File photo of MDMK chief Vaiko
The BJP's alliance in Tamil Nadu appears to be fraying with one member walking out today and another publicly criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.
MDMK chief V Gopalaswamy or Vaiko quit the BJP-led NDA alliance, making good his threat last week. He had hit out at two BJP leaders for criticizing him.
"Being in NDA is untenable because of PM Modi's policies," Mr Vaiko, 70, said in a statement today.
He had objected to two BJP leaders saying the MDMK should be thrown out of the coalition as Mr Vaiko repeatedly targeted PM Modi. One of the leaders, H Raja, had reportedly said Mr Vaiko may not be able to return safely from public meetings if he continued to criticise Mr Modi.
Mr Vaiko had questioned why Mr Modi was silent at such remarks made against him.
The BJP contested the national election in Tamil Nadu with five allies - the DMDK, headed by actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth, Vaiko's MDMK, the PMK of S Ramadoss, and two smaller parties.
Mr Vaiko has been a constant irritant for the BJP and was widely expected to leave the BJP-led coalition.
But Mr Ramadoss was unusually sharp when he hit out at Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's suggestion that the Bhagwat Gita should be declared the national book.
"PM Modi has done nothing praiseworthy in six months in office except language and cultural imposition," Mr Ramados said scathingly.
"It is improper to thrust the Gita on everyone in a secular country. This will only strengthen arguments that the Modi government wants to turn India into a Hindu country," he added.
Ms Swaraj defended her suggestion at an event to mark "5,151 years" of the Gita - the book based on Hindu god Krishna's sermon to Prince Arjuna before the epic Mahabharata war.
"Bhagwad Gita has answers to everybody's problems and that's why I said in Parliament that it should be declared the national holy book," the minister said.
She also said PM Modi had already elevated the book to national status by gifting it to US President Barack Obama.