Udhayanidhi Stalin issued notice by EC for 'Jaitley-Sushma' remark; told to reply by Apr 7

After the Tamil Nadu polls were completed, the Election Commission (EC), has issued a notice to DMK scion Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday, pulling him up for his remarks on late BJP veterans Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. The EC has asked Stalin jr. to reply by 5 PM, 7 April explaining his statement "Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley both died unable to tolerate pressure and torture give by Prime Minister Modi". Tamil Nadu saw a 72.11% voter turnout as all 234 constituencies went to the polls on Tuesday.

 EC pulls up Stalin Jr

DMK's Youth Wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin stirred controversy after going on a brazen rant about PM Modi, accusing him of allegedly killing late BJP stalwarts & former Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK's candidate from the Chepauk-Triplicane constituency, levelled the allegations against PM Modi as he was responding to the latter's charges of Stalin's son forcing senior DMK leaders to step aside in order to get a ticket for the upcoming Assembly elections. The DMK supremo's son levelled the allegations against PM Modi on the pretext of responding to the latter's remarks during the BJP rally in Dharmapuram earlier this week.

"There was a leader called Sushma Swaraj. She passed away because she couldn't take Modi's torture. There was a leader called Arun Jaitley. He also passed away due to Modi's pressure and torture. There was a leader called Venkaiah Naidu, they used to say he will be the next Prime Minister. Now, they have sidelined him also', Udhayanidhi Stalin claimed during his campaign. Outraged by Udhayanidhi's remarks accusing PM Modi of torturing late BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj to death, BJP had lodged a complaint with the EC citing Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation and his disqualification from contesting polls.

Later, Stalin Jr maintained that he had not defamed anyone. Reiterating that he had only replied to PM Modi's allegations that he had 'come up by stomping on other DMK leaders', Stalin jr said that he had no intentions of criticizing the late Union ministers. Claiming that the EC may bar him as BJP was 'adopting crooked ways to beat DMK'. 

"BJP cannot stand against any DMK candidate this election. So, they are adopting crooked ways to stop me from campaigning. This is maybe my last election campaign," said Stalin adding, "PM Modi accused me by saying, 'You came to the post by sidelining the seniors'. In order to answer that allegation, I said, 'Its not me but you (Modi), who sidelined the seniors'. Otherwise, I don't have any intention to criticise late Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj".