'Won't stoop to caste politics': Tamil Nadu MP on Annamalai's 'disgrace' jibe

‘Won’t stoop to caste politics’: Tamil Nadu MP on Annamalai’s ‘disgrace’ jibe

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP TR Baalu on Wednesday refused to respond to Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai’s “disgrace to politics” remark against him, saying he does not engage in caste or religious politics.

Annamalai had criticised Baalu for calling Union Minister L Murugan ‘unfit’ in Lok Sabha. “Thiru TR Baalu is a disgrace to politics and this is not the first time he has made disgraceful remarks about a member of the Scheduled Caste Community. I strongly condemn these remarks on Hon MoS Thiru @Murugan_MoS avl in the Temple of Democracy,” Annamalai said in a post on X.

“Only an arrogant man like Thiru TR Baalu can term a member of parliament & a Minister from the SC community as ‘Unfit’ & Thiru TR Baalu has to render an unconditional apology to the people of the SC community for calling their representative ‘Unfit’,” he added.

TR Baalu said that his question was to the Union Home Minister for not providing the funds for Tamil Nadu floods and wondered why L Murugan interfered.

“He (L Murugan) spoke before me. He spoke without knowing Parliament’s rules. I told him to sit down as he had no connection to the question,” Baalu said.

When asked about Annamai’s remarks, Baalu said, “I don’t stoop down to do caste politics, and will not react to Annamalai’s remarks”.

On Monday, TR Baalu called Murugan “unfit to be an MP or minister” in Lok Sabha for interrupting his speech during a discussion on the Centre’s flood aid for Tamil Nadu.

A heated confrontation unfolded when DMK Members of Parliament A Raja and A Ganeshamurthi raised queries to the Centre regarding the measures taken to aid Tamil Nadu in its post-flood reconstruction. As Baalu was speaking in the Lower House, Union Minister L Murugan, also from Tamil Nadu, interjected, labelling the questions posed by DMK members as ‘irrelevant’.

Responding to the interjection by the Union minister, Baalu asked him not to interrupt. “He (Murugan) should know some discipline. You are unfit to be a Member of Parliament. You are unfit to be a minister. You don’t have any guts to face us, we will teach you,” Baalu said.

ALSO READ | 15 former MLAs from Tamil Nadu, mostly from AIADMK, join BJP in Delhi