Chennai, September 26, 2026: DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has urged Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to “do some introspection” following Vijay’s campaign speech in Madurantakam on Friday. Responding to a series of allegations against the DMK, Stalin questioned Vijay’s record of speaking against the BJP and challenged his comments on women, a sexual assault case and the Karur tragedy.

Stalin asked Vijay how often he had criticised the BJP. He also claimed that remarks made in the Assembly by allies of Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) had been expunged. His response came after Vijay used the Madurantakam meeting to attack the DMK on several issues.

Addressing Vijay’s comments on the case involving allegations of sexual assault against minor girls by industrialist and Gem Granites owner R Veeramadi, Stalin said the chief minister appeared unaware of directions from the Madras High Court against politicising the matter. That account of the court’s directions was Stalin’s claim; the precise wording of any order was not provided in the report. Stalin said Vijay had spoken forcefully about the case without being fully updated on it.

Stalin also rejected any suggestion that he or the DMK had sought political advantage from the Karur tragedy. He said his point had been that no leader would want followers to lose their lives. Responding to Vijay’s allegation that DMK members denigrated women, Stalin urged him to examine the record of people he described as the chief minister’s “virtual abusers.”

The former chief minister mocked Vijay’s campaign presentation, saying that although Vijay had stopped acting in films, the Madurantakam event resembled a “shooting.” Stalin said he had watched the speech and its dialogue delivery.

He also questioned Vijay’s criticism of corruption while TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel, who had moved from the AIADMK, was on stage. Stalin asked whether a party presenting itself as a “pure force” could justify bringing in legislators elected on an opposing alliance’s ticket so soon after the election.

Stalin further argued that several schemes introduced by the TVK government were continuations of welfare measures begun under the DMK. His response sets up a direct contest over credit for those programmes as the Madurantakam bypoll campaign gathers pace. Vijay’s allegations and Stalin’s counterclaims remain competing political assertions.