In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, the firebrand BJP leader said that he would host Iftar, Diwali as well as Christmas if elected to power.
DMK should not do appeasement politics," the former IPS officer said.
Raking up the 1998 and 2022 Coimbatore blasts, Annamalai accused the DMK of doing "appeasement politics" over "bodies and explosions".
Is this appeasement or is my politics appeasement?
The BJP has invoked the Coimbatore blasts to woo the Hindu voters in the constituency.
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, who is contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the Coimbatore seat, dismissed claims of rival parties that the BJP was doing communal politics and said that it was taking all communities along. In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, the firebrand BJP leader said that he would host Iftar, Diwali as well as Christmas if elected to power.
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"I have hosted Iftar party as BJP president. Have you seen any BJP chief hosting an Iftar party? We are taking all communities together. DMK should not do appeasement politics," the former IPS officer said.
For the 2024 elections, the BJP has made Tamil Nadu its focal point, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the state seven times in the run-up to the polls.
Raking up the 1998 and 2022 Coimbatore blasts, Annamalai accused the DMK of doing "appeasement politics" over "bodies and explosions".
"In 2022, there was an ISIS-inspired suicide blast. The NIA has arrested 13 people and three chargesheets have been filed. The DMK government till now calls it a cylinder blast. Is this appeasement or is my politics appeasement? DMK should not do appeasement politics over a dead body or blast," the BJP chief said.
Coimbatore has a sizeable Muslim population. It is also home to many migrants from the North. The BJP has invoked the Coimbatore blasts to woo the Hindu voters in the constituency.
The BJP won the Coimbatore seat only twice way back in 1998 and 1999 on the back of serial blasts.
In 1998, when BJP leader LK Advani was on a visit to Coimbatore after the Babri Masjid demolition, a series of blasts across 11 sites rocked the city. The blasts left 58 dead and over 200 people injured. A radical Islamic organisation, Al-Umma, was believed to have carried out the blasts.
In 2022, a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded in front of a temple in Ukkadam near Coimbatore. The NIA said the attacker was "inspired by ISIS ideology".
Published By: Abhishek De Published On: Apr 10, 2024
