00:00Now, here's a twist. Now, you heard Rahul Gandhi saying that the entire opposition is united against Gyanesh Kabar, but
00:06not entirely here.
00:07And what is likely to be uncomfortable words for the Congress Party are words that are coming in from its
00:12former ally, the DMK.
00:14Now, DMK has attacked Rahul Gandhi's war against SIR and is demanding to know what is Rahul Gandhi's stand on
00:21SIR deletions that have reportedly happened in Tamil Nadu.
00:24The DMK is demanding as to why Rahul Gandhi particularly is not endorsing Congress President Malik Arjun Khargay's remarks.
00:32DMK asks, rhetorically, is Rahul Gandhi afraid of Vijay and needs his permission to speak on Tamil Nadu?
00:39DMK has even gone on to say, and I'm going to quote the party here, what a duplicitous man as
00:47well.
00:47He even come up with some unflattering words which when translated from Tamil about Rahul Gandhi.
00:53Of course, this is indicative of how badly the divorce between the former allies has impacted at this point,
01:01because the DMK, which at one point was a firm, strong ally of the Congress Party and its chief, M
01:07.K.
01:07Stalin, calling himself a brother of Rahul Gandhi, has come out, has now come out and lashed out at Rahul
01:13Gandhi for not speaking up on SIR deletions in Tamil Nadu.
01:16Even the Congress President Malik Arjun Khargay has spoken, and as you can see on your screens, the words that
01:21have been used,
01:22once a skunk, always a skunk.
01:25That is, of course, the translation of what the DMK has just put out.
01:29It's, of course, a battle of the former allies, the DMK and the Congress having an acrimonious split after the
01:36Tamil Nadu elections,
01:37where the Congress dumped its long-term ally for the past 20 years to ally and extend support to the
01:43TVK,
01:43which had stormed to power in the recent elections, therefore becoming a part of the government and offering support from
01:50its five MLA's.
01:51That has, of course, had repercussions at the national scene as well.
01:55The DMK has exited infamously the India Bloc Alliance, repeated overtures by the Congress Party for the DMK to be
02:02part of India Bloc meetings,
02:03including today's protest, have been rejected by the Dravidian Party.
02:07And now its former ally has lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for reportedly staying mum on SIR deletions in Tamil
02:14Nadu,
02:15saying, claiming Rahul Gandhi is a duplicitous man who will not speak up on what happened in Tamil Nadu,
02:21as he is afraid of offending his new ally and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Joseph Vijay.
02:32So that is, of course, the latest statement coming in from former ally DMK, who has attacked Rahul Gandhi's SIR
02:38war.
02:39The DMK has demanded on knowing what is Rahul Gandhi's stand on the deletions of SIR in Tamil Nadu
02:45and is asking as to why Rahul Gandhi is not endorsing Malikar Junkarge's remarks,
02:50claiming it's Rahul afraid of Vijay to speak about Tamil Nadu.
02:55Let's go across to my colleague Anaga, who's joining us with more details.
02:58Anaga, this is a firm reminder once again of how badly the divorce has happened between the Congress and the
03:04DMK.
03:05And more importantly, why this is having national repercussions as well,
03:08because at a time when the Congress would have liked to show a united opposition standing up to CEC and
03:12the central government,
03:14its former allies come up with some very stinging words indeed.
03:18That's right. In fact, the relationship between the Congress and the DMK has only soured after the elections.
03:24The DMK still has some bitter taste in its mouth,
03:28given the fact that how Congress did not pay that courtesy call to MK Stalin
03:33and then went ahead and joined still has a scar in the minds of so many DMK carders.
03:37And therefore, you see the kind of barbs that's been exchanged.
03:40And now the spokesperson of DMK has given out a tweet saying that why isn't Rahul Gandhi joining Malikarjun Kargay's
03:46chorus,
03:47calling for a dissolution of all state governments that have been formed after the SAR exercise.
03:53Linking that with the recent Tamil Nadu assembly elections that happened,
03:57the spokesperson asked, is Rahul Gandhi afraid of after Vijay?
04:01Is that why he's not supporting Malikarjun Kargay's call for dissolution of all governments that were formed after the SAR
04:08exercise?
04:10So this is the kind of word of words that we're witnessing at the moment.
04:13In fact, even in Tamil Nadu, the India bloc has called for a protest on October 12, 13, 14.
04:19All the members of the India bloc, including the TVK, will be participating in this SAR protest calling for the
04:25resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.
04:28Do stay on with us. My colleague Akshita is also joining us to give a perspective as well.
04:32Akshita, where does the DMK really stand?
04:35Because it has also, like the Congress, been very firm against SIR and deletions in Tamil Nadu.
04:40But given the fact that it has had such an acrimonious divorce with the Congress party,
04:44it can't be seen, it is not standing with the India bloc allies.
04:47So what exactly is the DMK stand right now?
04:52Well, it's exactly the same as the Congress and the rest of the India bloc, Hrithanshu.
04:56But it's because of, as you pointed out, you know, the divorce in Tamil Nadu,
05:00that right now the DMK is attempting to stitch its own regional bloc, reaching out to political parties.
05:05It's still the start, too raw to see if that really does actually turn into something.
05:09But they're working on that.
05:11Having said that, the reason they're highlighting Tamil Nadu right now
05:14is because constantly the DMK suggested that there are questions to be asked about the result that came in in
05:20Kholatour,
05:21which is where MK Stalin lost.
05:23They highlight that over one lakh votes were deleted after the SIR exercise in Kholatour,
05:27where the TVK candidate, VS Babu, had won.
05:30TVK is an ally of the Congress.
05:33And so there's a big question mark that the DMK is asking as to why the Congress hasn't spoken about
05:38SIR,
05:39about the election commission in Tamil Nadu.
05:41This, interestingly, is exactly how the BJP has also chosen to fend off all the attacks from the Congress,
05:47saying you never speak of the states in which the election result has benefited you.
05:51So while the DMK may be on the same stand, on the same footing as the Congress on this particular
05:56issue,
05:57interestingly, when they raise the issue of Tamil Nadu,
06:00when they raise the issue of Congress being silent,
06:03and Congress's hypocrisy, as they put it, on Tamil Nadu, on Kholatour,
06:06it's pretty much the same as the BJP line.
06:09And we are seeing in real time the politics in Tamil Nadu
06:12and the shift in power allegiance is playing out on the national level as well.
06:16Akshita and Anagas, thank you so much for staying,
06:18for giving us your views and perspectives as well.
