DMK scared to sack Ponmudy; people will act with ballots, says Nainar Nagenthran

MADURAI: BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran criticised Chief Minister MK Stalin, saying that he is not taking action against Forest Minister K Ponmudy for his vulgar remarks about women and certain sects of Hinduism because he is afraid of the senior leader.

After paying tributes to BR Ambedkar in Tirunelveli on his birth anniversary on Monday, Nagenthran asked every woman and man in the household to ensure that people like Ponmudy go scot-free when they cast their votes in the 2026 election.

Recalling past events, Nagenthran told reporters that he had the good fortune of meeting former Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, who gave him an opportunity to contest polls from Tirunelveli Assembly constituency, on this same day in 2001 at Chennai. Now, after a gap of 25 years of political career, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave me a big responsibility in the BJP in the same month, he said.

Recalling Ambedkar’s contributions to the nation, Nainar said that he was a great social reformer and principal architect of the Indian Constitution, but the Congress-led UPA government had never shown proper regard for the tall leader.

The newly taken-over saffron party TN unit chief said even the memorials of Ambedkar were not properly maintained; they were renovated only after the BJP came to power. Moreover, Nainar Nagenthran called for the government to remove cages covering statues of iconic leaders, including Ambedkar, since it seemed that the leaders were put behind bars.

Further responding to a query, he said the BJP and the AIADMK, the key opposition party in Tamil Nadu, entered into an alliance with no stalemate.