'UPA govt should disassociate from Karuna's anti-Ram remarks'

CHENNAI: The UPA government at Centre should "disassociate" itself from DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi's anti-Ram remarks and ask him to withdraw them, BJP president Rajnath Singh said here on Wednesday.

"Otherwise, the Prime Minister should sack the DMK ministers from the Union cabinet," Singh told reporters at state BJP headquarters 'Kamalalayam', which was damaged allegedly by DMK workers recently.

He charged the Centre with adopting double standards on the issue and encouraging "blasphemy".

"While it banned the Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses', it was allowing Karunanidhi's remarks hurting the Hindu sentiments," he said.

Condemning the BJP office attack, he said,"some ministers who had taken oath to protect the Constitution have indulged in the attack. We will not be cowed down by such threats".

On the October 1 bandh called by DMK and its allies in Tamil Nadu, he wondered how a ruling party could do that, particularly when the Supreme Court and various High Courts had banned bandhs.

He said the BJP was not against the Sethusamudram project but against the demolition of Ram Sethu.

On Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's remarks that the Centre would not change the alignment of the Sethu project, he said, "if they don't change it, people will change them".

Singh recalled that BJP had disassociated itself from Ram Vilas Vendanti's alleged call to "behead Karunanidhi".

Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu was also present when Rajnath Singh visited the BJP office.