Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan on Saturday slammed MDMK chief Vaiko for accusing the BJP of wooing DMDK chief Vijayakanth with offers of Parliament seats and Cabinet positions. He said Vaiko’s charge only showed Vijayakanth in poor light as it could mean that the latter was looking for deals.

Deccan Chronicle reports that Vijayakanth and his wife Premalatha had trusted Vaiko as coordinator of their new poll front, yet the MDMK chief chose to embarrass both, said the BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan, leading her party’s outrage at Vaiko’s charge.

“Premalatha has categorically said that DMDK was not in poll talks with the DMK but Vaiko claimed that. Does Vaiko know more about Vijayakanth than the latter’s wife?” she wondered during a media interaction at her party office.

BJP state senior C. P. Radhakrishnan accused Vaiko of “changing colours for personal gains”. He demanded that the MDMK chief declare his assets. “He should come out clean on this before slinging mud on others,” he said.

Rubbishing Vaiko’s charge, BJP state vice-president M Chakravarthy said the question of ‘offering’ arose only when the concerned person is up for sale. “Does Vaiko say that Vijayakanth is such a person?” he wondered. BJP national secretary H. Raja demanded an apology from Vaiko “for uttering lies if he knows civilised politics”. “But he will not apologise”, Raja added.