A video showing police jumping over the wall and removing a statue of Bharat Mata at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) office in Virudhunagar has invited strong criticism from state president K Annamalai.

He said that the situation under the corruption-ridden Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government is such that a party was not allowed to keep a statue of Bharat Mata in its own premises.

In an apparent reference to Thangam Thennarasu and KKSSR Ramachandran, he said that this was done because two ministers hailing from Virudhunagar were afraid of the exposure of their corruption during his En Mann En Makkal padayatra.

The padayatra is scheduled to enter Virudhunagar district on 9 August with its first stop at Thiruchuzhi. The other stops planned in the district are at Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar city, Sivakasi and Sattur.