Piyush Goyal calls for Udhayanidhi Stalin’s removal over hate speech, meets minor allies

Chennai: Union minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday demanded the removal of deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin from the state cabinet, accusing him of attempting to "divide people through hate speech"."Action should be taken against Udhayanidhi for his hate speech, for dividing the people of Tamil Nadu, for trying to create communal disharmony," Goyal told reporters during a joint press interaction with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami. He was referring to Udhayanidhi's remarks on ‘sanatana dharma' in 2023. Citing the order passed by Madras high court quashing the FIR registered against BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya for equating Udhayanidhi's remark with a call for genocide, Goyal said Udhayanidhi should no longer be part of the govt. He said that Udhayanidhi comes from a party where abusing Hindus is met with applause. "A case should be registered against him for his hate speech, for trying to divide people, and people like him should not be allowed to run the state of TN," he added.Meanwhile, minor allies of NDA from the state including Indiya Jananayaka Katchi founder T R Paarivendar, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam leader John Pandian, Puthiya Neethi Katchi founder A C Shanmugham and Puratchi Bharatham party leader Poovai Jaganmoorthy called on Goyal and reassured their support for NDA.BJP functionaries said the meetings consolidated the alliance. Jagan Moorthy told reporters after the meeting that they were given only one constituency in the last election, but this time his party began election work in six constituencies. Meanwhile, Tamizhar Desam Katchi founder K R Selvakumar quit NDA and joined DMK on Thursday. "BJP did not fulfil their promise of forming a national welfare board for muthuraiyar community," he said, when asked about the reason for quitting NDA.