Both AIADMK and Tamil Nadu govt are secular, says CM Edappadi Palaniswami

AIADMK senior leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Sunday said the party and the government led by it were secular and accused vested interests of coming up with false accusations.

"Both the party and the government led by AIADMK are secular," he said to a question by reporters here after chairing a meeting of party functionaries here.

The Chief Minister cited his party's opposition to the criminalisation of triple talaq in Parliament to support his point.

"In Parliament, we took up the triple talaq issue and sought deletion of provisions that criminalised it...our MPs opposed it in Parliament... AIADMK is a secular movement," he said.

Without naming any party, leader or rivals, he said after the death of party supremo J Jayalalithaa, certain persons wanted to 'somehow' break up the party.

"That was not possible for them...they thought of toppling the government and that too did not fructify... so they are trying to fish out some issue (to target the party and government)," he said, adding that such things cannot happen.

To a question on sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, he asked "is he running a big party? he was an independent candidate (in RK Nagar)."

He said it was the media which was projecting him as a biggie in politics.

Palaniswamy without elaborating said people knew how he (Dhinkaran) won the R K Nagar assembly poll.

"Dinakaran is not even a basic member of AIADMK and was removed from the party by Jayayalalithaa, he pointed out.

On the vexed Cauvery issue, he expressed the hope that the outcome of the verdict on the river water dispute would be favourable to the farmers in Tamil Nadu.

He said Karnataka should have to release 80 TMC of water till May first week.

The Supreme Court had last week indicated that it would deliver within a month its verdict on the decades old Cauvery dispute saying enough confusion had been created in the matter for over two decades.

"We have asked the neighbouring state to release 15 TMC ft water in the first phase," he said and added that out of it seven TMC ft should be released immediately.

"Through this, the standing paddy crops in the delta region will be saved," he said.

The Chief Minister said he held discussions with the functionaries in the Salem district of AIADMK here.

Palaniswamy said 386 functionaries from the Salem district attended the meeting.

On superstar Rajinikanth's announcement on entering politics he said, he said in a democracy anyone could enter politics. But only some parties would stand among the people.