Apologies to Palaniswami if hurt by speech: DMK leader

Chennai: In a damage control measure, A Raja, the DMK's Deputy General Secretary and Lok Sabha member, on Monday apologised to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami for hurting his sentiments by the alleged derogatory speech made against the latter's mother.

Speaking to the mediapersons at Ooty on Monday, Raja said he apologised to Palaniswami if his remarks had hurt him. With condemnations for his derogatory speech against Palaniswami and his mother pouring in and to avoid any negative impact on DMK's electoral prospects, Raja regretted his speech.

Recently the DMK leader said Stalin's slipper is worth Rs one more than that of Palaniswami. Raja had insulted Palaniswami's late mother saying the Chief Minister was an 'illegitimate child' while DMK National President M.K. Stalin was a 'legitimate child'.

On Sunday Palaniswami while campaigning for his party turned emotional citing Raja insulting his mother. Justifying his speech, Raja said he had tried to explain the political leadership capacity of Stalin and Palaniswami citing a baby as an example.

However, the DMK and its alliance parties did not condemn Raja but maintained a frivolous stand on the matter. Earlier, Stalin released a statement urging his party leaders not to use indecent language while campaigning.

In a scathing attack on DMK and A. Raja, Pattali Makkal Katch (PMK) founder, S. Ramadoss, said the former was not ready to respect women and cited the late M. Karunanidhi's responses to various issues in the past.

Ramadoss also said Palaniswami, who rose in the AIADMK rank to become the state Chief Minister has more political acumenship than Stalin, the son of DMK's late President and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. When there are several decent words to compare Palaniswami and Stalin, the choice of words used by Raja shows his stature and also that of the DMK, Ramadoss added.

Ramadoss said it was Stalin's son and party's Youth wing leader Udayanidhi Stalin, who started the trend of making disgusting remarks about Palaniswami and V.K.Sasikala. Few days back, one of DMK's Propaganda Secretary Dindigul I Leoni body-shamed women while campaigning in the Thondamuthur constituency for Karthikeya Sivasenapathy.

Leoni had said women have lost their hour-glass figure and have become like a barrel after drinking milk of foreign cows. DMK's Lok Sabha member, Kanimozhi, said whoever be the political leader, if they are speaking ill about women -- they must be condemned.