Chennai:
The BJP’s four Tamil Nadu MLAs walked out of the Assembly Friday as the state’s 2025/26 budget was being read out. This was after the AIADMK’s 60+ MLAs also walked out. The reason – to protest the currency symbol swap and corruption allegations in TASMAC, the state liquor sales agency.
The showdowns underline fast-increasing tension between the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the opposition – the BJP and the AIADMK, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – ahead of next year’s Assembly election, which will be a big test of the saffron party’s popularity in a state that has historically rejected its muscular nationalist agenda in favour of the Dravidian political narrative.
The BJP’s state unit boss, K Annamalai, told reporters, “Our four MLAs, walked out for a simple reason – which is, the whole budget is an eye-washing exercise. There is nothing productive about it. And also, the Tamil Nadu government has yet to learn lessons from yesterday.”
VIDEO | Tamil Nadu Budget 2025-26: On party staging a walkout during budget presentation, BJP’s state unit chief K Annamalai (@annamalai_k) says, “You have seen the whole controversy that has been created artificially by the Tamil Nadu govt yesterday. They wanted to change the… pic.twitter.com/bALVuK202A
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 14, 2025
The reference was the Re-Ru swap that triggered a furious pushback from a BJP scrambling for a first-time foothold in the southern state ahead of next year’s Assembly election.
Re-Ru Swap Row
“You have seen the whole controversy that has been artificially created by the Tamil Nadu government… They wanted to change the rupee symbol and created so much ruckus…” Mr Annamalai, who branded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin “stupid” for the swap, said.
READ | Tamil Nadu Replaces Re Symbol In Budget Amid Hindi Row With Centre
The swap – replacing the rupee symbol (Re) in the budget logo with the Tamil letter (Ru) commonly used to refer to the currency – was the latest shot in the DMK’s battle with the BJP-led centre over ‘Hindi imposition’ – via the new National Education Policy’s three-language push.
READ | “Ruining Students’ Future”, “Arrogant”: Centre vs Tamil Nadu on Hindi Row
Party leader Saravanan Annadurai may have played down the swap, telling a news outlet “there is nothing illegal… this is not a ‘showdown’. We prioritise Tamil… that is why we went with this”, but Mr Annamalai and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman issued withing responses.
Mr Annamalai pointed out the Re symbol – partly based on the Devanagari script on which Hindi is based – had actually been designed by the son of a former DMK MLA, and Ms Sitharaman slammed the decision as “secessionist”. It signals, she said, “a dangerous mindset…”
READ | “Designed By Tamilian”: K Annamalai’s “Stupid” Barb At DMK In Re Row
Meanwhile, the BJP also targeted the DMK over the alleged TASMAC liquor scam.
After Delhi, Tamil Nadu Liquor Scam?
The party’s Coimbatore (South) MLA, Vanathi Srinivasan, told reporters the two issues combined meant the Tamil Nadu government had lost its credibility. “Our walkout is on two issues… the first is that the Enforcement Directorate issued a statement about financial irregularities (in TASMAC),” she said,
#WATCH | Chennai: On Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Budget session, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan says, “The walkout is on the two issues. The first is that the ED has issued a statement about the financial irregularities of estimating thousands of crores… This government has… pic.twitter.com/Qj25KvQnka
— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2025
The second, she said, was the “disrespect” shown to the Re symbol.
AIADMK’s Response
On all of this there has also been a muted response from the ruling DMK’s main rival – the AIADMK, a former BJP ally treading the fine line between opposing Mr Stalin’s party and risking alienating Tamil voters by not protesting vociferously enough against ‘Hindi imposition’.
The party has offered cautious support of protests against ‘Hindi imposition’, but has found a stronger voice in criticising the DMK over the TASMAC corruption allegations. Party boss and former Chief Minister E Palaniswami led a walkout of his 60+ MLAs over the accusations.
The allegations have come after the Enforcement Directorate claimed “multiple irregularities” in TASMAC’s operations, including “malpractice” and unaccounted cash worth Rs 1,000 crore.
The AIADMK has demanded the DMK government stand down immediately.
Incidentally, it was a liquor scam – related to an excise policy – that played a key role in helping the BJP defeat the AAP in Delhi last month, and return to power in the national capital after three decades.
With input from agencies
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