BJP hits out at Karuna for rant against Modi

BJP state today hit out at DMK chief M Karunanidhi for questioning the timing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's congratulatory message to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on May 19, saying he had greeted her only after trends indicated AIADMK's victory in the assembly polls.
"Modi greeted Jayalalithaa on her party's poll victory only at 11.15 AM on Twitter on May 19 and not at 10 AM as claimed by Karunanidhi. By this time trends had already indicated that AIADMK would win," BJP Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan said in a statement here.
She pointed out that even before greeting Jayalalithaa, Modi had congratulated Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal Chief Minister) at 11.14 AM, Sonowal (Assam CM) at 11.23 AM and the Kerala winners at 11.26 AM.

On Karunanidhi's charge that the PM's call had influenced the electoral outcome in Tamil Nadu, she said, "if election results can be influenced through greetings, why had Modi not done it in Delhi polls? How did Nitish win back power in Bihar?"
Karunanidhi had at a public meeting yesterday got up to celebrate his 93rd birthday had asked Modi the 'secret' behind him greeting Jayalalithaa at 10 AM on her victory and sought to know how he learnt by that time itself she was winning.
"Did you complete counting of votes even before the process had started?," he had asked sarcastically and alleged that Modi's greetings influenced the electoral outcome in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK patriarch had also termed the Election Commission a "dishonest" organisation and said a "fitting lesson" should be taught to the EC by "ensuring victory" for DMK candidates in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Assembly constituencies.

He had alleged that election was rescinded in these two constituencies to prevent DMK from winning the seats and added if Modi failed to give an explanation it would mean that he had accepted his charges.
The BJP state president also hit out at Karunanidhi for saying there was no proper explanation for seizure of Rs 570 crore by the Election Commission, which SBI had claimed was its own.

"He says Centre should respond to the seizure though authorities have clarified that it belongs to SBI ... You have not given a true reply to the Rs 1.76 lakh Crore 2G scam," she said.
Soundararajan also hit out at Karunanidhi for his "sheep believes only the butcher" May 30 remark, a reference to people who voted AIADMK back to power.
"If DMK wins, they are people and if they don't, the people are sheep. If DMK wins the Election Commission officials are honest, if they lose, they are dishonest ... You opened up a bundle of lies," she said.