Minister TRB Rajaa, Annamalai lock horns on social media

CHENNAI: Political enthusiasts on social networking sites were in for a treat on Thursday as State Industries Minister TRB Rajaa and state BJP president K Annamalai locked horns on Twitter over the issue of Chief Minister M K Stalin writing to Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on the issue of Amul trying to infiltrate into the milk shadow area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu.

Annamalai set the tone for the social media war when he faulted Stalin for writing to the union home/cooperation minister for a dairy development-related issue. A video of sarcastic Annamalai ridiculing the CM for the letter was doing the rounds on social media since Wednesday morning. "In the nine years of Amit Shah (as minister), none would have written such a faulty letter, as did Stalin."

Reacting to the right-wing jibe, an equally witty minister Rajaa, who was among the DMK leaders who tried to tutor the state BJP president on the CM writing to the Union Cooperation Minister on an issue involving cooperative societies, said, "Looks like the TN unit of the BJP needs to read much more than the 20,000+ books that is already says it has. The Constitution would be a good start but let them at least read the List of Ministries in the Union Cabinet!#Amul is a cooperative and the union minister of cooperation, which oversees policies for cooperatives, is Honurable Thiru#AmitShah."

"TN BJP seems to have zero knowledge about their own#government and of#governance too. When are they going to stop embarrassing other leaders of the BJP? The joke is on them," tweeted Rajaa, jabbing at Annamalai who had once claimed that he had read 20,000 books so far in his life.

Responding in kind, Annamalai said, "A man who runs on his father's legacy and the chairman of DMK dimwits will need some schooling on the functions of various ministries in the central government. It is the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) that is resolving the cross-border marketing issue between Amul and Nandini and Nandini and Milma. NDDB works under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. It is a pity you are a minister of industries for the State government of Tamil Nadu."