Meeting with Owaisi a courtesy call, says DMK leader Masthan

“We wanted to make it formal only after consulting our alliance partners. But before that, the video recording of us meeting Mr. Owaisi was released ...” the DMK minorities wing secretary said.

DMK minorities wing secretary Masthan on January 2 reiterated that he only made a courtesy call on AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and no decision was taken about inviting him for the party’s Chennai public meeting on January 6.

“We wanted to make it formal only after consulting our alliance partners. But before that, the video recording of us meeting Mr. Owaisi was released. We do not know who has done it,” Mr. Masthan, a former MP, told The Hindu .

The meeting — Ithyangalai Inaippom (Let us unite our hearts) — has been organised by the minorities wing at YMCA in Chennai.

Asked whether the Congress party was in favour of inviting Mr. Owaisi since his party had played spoilsport in Bihar Assembly elections, Mr. Masthan said, those issues were not discussed since everything was at a preliminary stage.

“We never went into those issues. The meeting will be attended only by our alliance partners,” he said.

When his opinion was sought on the issue, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Kader Mohideen said that he was not against inviting Mr. Owaisi.

“Our objective is to defeat the BJP and prevent it from gaining a hold on Tamil Nadu,” he said.