Kadambur Raju Says His Remarks 'Exist From NDA A Historical Blunder' Twisted

AIADMK former state Minister Kadambur Raju on Thursday claimed his comments on the AIADMK party's exit from the NDA in 1999 were twisted out of contest and that he had never described it as a "historical blunder."

Earlier this week, while speaking at a joint meeting of the AIADMK and BJP workers in the district, Raju had said the AIADMK under J Jayalalithaa decided to withdraw support to the Vajpayee government for some reason and "this historical blunder" later led to the DMK to support the BJP and share power in the union government which lasted for 14 years.

"The BJP had empowered the DMK. But the latter has no respect for it," he had said. His remarks, however, drew spontaneous criticism from former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam who lashed out at Raju, saying it was his comments that were a historical blunder.

"Amma's (as Jayalalithaa is addressed) move led to the AIADMK coming to power in the state in 2001 and in winning 37 out of 40 MP seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections," Panneerselvam said in a statement here on Thursday. "In fact, her (Jayalalithaa's) decision to withdraw support to the BJP was a historical revolution," Panneerselvam added.

After his comments went viral, Raju clarified on July 30 that his speech was twisted out of contest by vested interests. "I had never used the term historical blunder. I had meant that AIADMK withdrawing support to the BJP coalition resulted in the DMK aligning with the BJP," the Kovilpatti legislator claimed while speaking to reporters. He was only speaking about the narrative that AIADMK's alliance with the BJP was bad whereas it was good when the DMK aligned with it, he added.