DMK's A Raja apologises for 'offensive' jibe at Palaniswami as emotional CM says people will punish leader

Chennai, Mar 28: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader A Raja , who triggered a huge controversy with his remarks against Edappadi K Palaniswami and his mother, on Monday apologised for calling Chief Minister an "illegitimate child" at an election rally.

The remarks were made during campaign rallies ahead of the state elections, scheduled on April 6.

Palaniswami turned emotional while reacting to DMK leader A Raja's alleged disparaging remarks against him, his mother and said a mother occupied a lofty position in society and anyone who denigrated women would be punished by God.

A day after the AIADMK lodged a police complaint against Raja for his comment, Palaniswami, obviously sad, denounced the offensive language used by the rival party leader.

"Think about what all they will say if a common man is a chief minister," Palaniswami said in north Chennai's Tiruvottiyur neighbourhood, according to the newspaper. "If this can happen to a chief minister, who can give protection to common people like you? What will happen to the women if they come to power? Please think about it."

As he tried to speak up in a campaign in north Chennai, the Chief Minister's voice choked and he turned emotional. If a person who occupied the position of Chief Minister could be targeted in such an objectionable manner, what would be the position of ordinary people, he wondered.

"Think, what kind of a situation our women and mothers would face if such people capture power?" he asked.

Police have filed a case against Raja for his offensive allegation, an insinuation about Palaniswami''s birth. He appealed to the people to give people like Raja an ''appropriate punishment'' apparently through ballots. Whether rich or poor, a mother is accorded a very high position in the society and whoever made disparaging remarks against a mother or women would be punished for sure by the God, Palaniswami said.

AIADMK workers and cadres of alliance parties including PMK on Sunday held protest demonstrations in several regions of Tamil Nadu seeking the arrest of Raja.