‘Rajinikanth and I have always been good friends’

A day after his response to actor Rajinikanth’s comments about older politicians, DMK general secretary and Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan on Monday (August 26) said that he and the actor had always been good friends and there was no need to turn Mr. Rajinikanth’s “witty comments” into hate speech.

Mr. Duraimurugan addressed journalists at a ceremony honoring the late DMK president and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at Vellore Institute of Technology.

On Saturday (August 24, 2024), at a function to release a book on Karunanidhi, Mr. Rajinikanth likened the DMK to a classroom of old students.

“DMK has a lot of old students. They refuse to leave the classroom even after securing rank in the examinations. It is not easy to deal with them. There is Mr. Duraimurugan, who could even make life difficult for Kalaignar [Karunanidhi]. Stalin, sir, hats off to you,” he had said.

Responding to his remarks, Mr. Duraimurugan on Sunday (August 25, 2024) said: “Exactly the same way, actors who had grown old with falling teeth and sporting beards in their end stages are continuing to act, denying opportunity to young actors. How easy it is to say so.”