‘Am not Jesus Christ’: BJP leader Annamalai takes a swipe at TN minister PTR

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai on Thursday justified his outburst on Twitter against state finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, saying he wasn’t Jesus Christ to turn the other cheek when the minister insults him.

“They speak of social justice but how many first-generation politicians have come up in the DMK?” said the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who quit his job in 2019 and joined the BJP. Annamalai, who unsuccessfully contested the 2021 assembly elections, was appointed as the state’s BJP chief 2021, the youngest party leader to hold the post. He is 38.

“And if someone like that does come up, you use abusive language and your I-T wing. I’m not Jesus Christ to turn my other cheek if you slap me. If you hit me, I will hit back. If you are aggressive, I’ll come at you with double aggression. If the DMK engages in respectful politics, I’ll be doubly respectful. The DMK has to forget its old way of doing politics by threatening,” he said, adding that the DMK thinks they can threaten him because he’s from a village where his family works on a farm and rears goats.

Finance minister Rajan, or PTR as the 56-year-old is called in the state, and Annamalai are the two key players in the back and forth between the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the BJP after a leaked audio clip emerged last month. According to the DMK, Annamalai and the BJP’s Madurai rural district secretary Maha Suseendran are heard discussing PTR in the conversation and accuse the state BJP chief of being involved in the August 13 incident in which a BJP worker threw a slipper at PTR’s car in Madurai. Annamalai has said that it was his voice in the audio but alleged that the DMK doctored the clip.

On Wednesday evening, PTR took to Twitter to declare that he won’t address Annamalai by his name and instead used an emoticon of the goat which is how the BJP chief is mocked by his opponents in Tamil Nadu. Attaching photos and newspaper clippings, PTR alleged that Annamalai is a rabble-rouser, lies blatantly and “seeks publicity” with a “martyr’s body” and “engineers slipper-throwing on car” with a national flag, a reference to the Madurai slipper throwing incident.

Annamalai responded an hour later in a string of tweets, denying that he had a role in the slipper-throwing incident and emphasising that PTR has had it easy due to his family. PTR, who joined the DMK after spending more than two decades in foreign financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers Holdings and Standard Chartered Bank, is son of former TN speaker PTR Palanivel Rajan and grandson of former chief minister PT Rajan.

Annamalai said: “Mr PTR, your problem is this: You & your coterie, who only live with your ancestors’ initials, cannot accept a self-made son of a farmer who also proudly practises farming - as a person,” the state BJP chief said.

“Have you done anything worthwhile in this life except being born to a great lineage & a silver spoon? You are a curse to politics & our state! You need to understand there are people like us too - who don’t travel in big planes; don’t shut down banks & importantly, have a balanced brain & a life. Finally, You are not worthy enough for my Chappals. I’ll never stoop to your level to orchestrate something like that. Don’t worry!,” he said in a series of tweets.