Reporter’s Diary: ‘70L votes’ is Bhalaji’s newest foot-in-mouth moment

State Dairy Minister Rajenthra Bhalaji, who has earned the dubious distinction of delivering rib-tickling and meaningless one-liners, and occasionally spilling out party secrets on the dais, was caught in one such act again. But this time, things went overboard, even by his standards. 

The Minister said that the AIADMK would sweep Ottapidaram Assembly bypoll by a whopping 70 lakh vote margin, at least thirty times more than the electorate size of the constituency. Even the total number of voters in Thoothukudi Parliamentary seat comprising Ottapidaram was only 14 lakh. An erstwhile ally of the party sarcastically said, “Even if his boss in New Delhi were to manage the entire by-election, this number is too big,” perhaps recalling the Minister’s earlier statement that Modi was now AIADMK’s ‘daddy’ and the “top-level boss will manage everything.” 

Understandably, even the AIADMK did not find the gaffe amusing. It was not uncommon to find AIADMK cadre muttering, “Was he referring to the money given? Did he accidentally reveal the election spend?” Curious DMK netizens, however, smelt a rat and said the bluff was just a smokescreen used by the ruling dispensation to cover up something big. Meanwhile, members of the principal opposition party advised people not to be ‘blinded’ by the ‘jokes’ of a few loose cannons in the ruling party.