The DMK should offer constructive criticism and suggestions that help Tamil Nadu’s growth instead of engaging in personal attacks, Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management K.A. Sengottaiyan said in Coimbatore on Wednesday (June 24).

Mr. Sengottaiyan told reporters that the DMK’s arguments and style of politics had not found favour with the people, which was why its president M.K. Stalin lost the election.

He denied the allegations that schoolchildren were made to hold TVK flags during celebrations connected with Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s birthday. Younger generations were drawn to the party voluntarily and had played a significant role, along with women, in TVK’s electoral victory. “We are not responsible for schoolchildren holding TVK flags,” he said.

Commenting on the controversy surrounding the rendering of the National Anthem during Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s address to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on June 18, Mr. Sengottaiyan said there was nothing wrong with the anthem being played twice. Referring to the Chief Minister statement in the Assembly that the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu was rendered after the National Anthem during the Assembly centenary celebrations in 2021 attended by the President of India, he said there was no rule mandating that the National Anthem should be played first whenever the President or the Governor attended a function in the State Assembly.

Referring to the opening of the Mettur dam, he said that in the past 21 years, the reservoir was opened on June 12 only seven times, while in most years water was released later depending on rainfall and storage levels.

The proposal for a new tribunal in connection with the Mekedatu dam issue would not affect Tamil Nadu’s interests, he said.

Rejecting BJP State president Nainar Nagendran’s claim that TVK was seeking BJP support to form the government, Mr. Sengottaiyan said the party had not sought support from the BJP. “Mr. Nagendran is the one making comedy. He should focus on opposing the DMK instead of targeting us,” he said.