Days after a video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah seemingly 'reprimanding' Tamil Nadu BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan went viral on social media, the latter has rubbished the buzz over the matter.
The former Telangana Governor on Thursday took to X to clarify the matter, saying that the conversation was misjudged from the video. She said that Shah was merely giving her advice over political work.
"Yesterday as I met our honourable Home Minister Sri @AmitShah ji in AP for the first time after the 2024 Elections he called me to ask about post poll followup and the challenges faced... As I was elaborating, due to paucity of time with utmost concern he adviced to carry out the political and constituency work intensively which was reassuring. This is to clarify all unwarranted speculations around," she wrote in her X post.
Speculations were rife that the Union Minister had reprimanded Tamilisai, allegedly over the infighting within the BJP's Tamil Nadu unit. The video clip from the swearing-in ceremony of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had been doing the rounds on social media, creating the buzz over the same.
Several opposition leaders took a swipe at the BJP over the video and Amit Shah's alleged 'harsh' behaviour. Former Union Minister and Dayanidhi Maran said that the incident was "unfortunate".
"It's so unfortunate. She was the Governor of Telangana and Puducherry. We feel bad. Will the Home Minister give the same treatment to (Finance Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman or (External Affairs Minister) S Jaishankar? Just because she (Tamilisai) is from Tamil Nadu, can she be treated any way? This is most unwelcomed," Maran was quoted as saying by India Today.
Meanwhile, DMK spokesperson Sarvanan Annadurai had also attacked the BJP and Shah over the incident and asked "What kind of politics is this?"
He said that expressing "harsh words or threatening body language" to a known female politician on stage was a "very bad example".
Many were speculating that the issue allegedly stemmed from the internal tussle between Tamilsai and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai after the party's defeat in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It had reportedly been said that party functionaries were blaming Annamalai for the loss, saying that it was because of his approach that the AIADMK had severed ties with the BJP.
Tamilisai also had said in an interview that if the BJP-AIADMK alliance were still there, then they easily would have won 30-35 seats in the general elections.
