'Stalin uncle did not slap me,' says man who travelled with DMK leader on Chennai Metro Rail

CHENNAI: “Stalin uncle did not slap me,” said 25-year-old Karthik Rajendran on Thursday , a few hours after Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa accused DMK treasurer M K Stalin of slapping a man during a ride on Chennai Metro Rail on Wednesday.
Karthik had been the centre of all discussions ever since Jayalalithaa made the comments pointing to the visuals aired TV channels.
“Stalin uncle did not slap me. He was asking me to move aside from where I was standing in the train. He did wave his hand while he was asking me to move because I had unintentionally stamped on the feet of a woman passenger. I did not even feel that he slapped me. He is my role model,” Karthik told TOI.
Stalin travelled on a metro train on Wednesday, and TV channels aired visuals of the DMK leader allegedly slapping his co-passenger. In a statement, Jayalalithaa said, "This news is available in the media. This is not the way an MLA should behave. I hope he will not behave like this in the future".
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However, Stalin denied Jayalalithaa’s charge. Terming the charge as a conspiracy against him, Stalin said Jayalalithaa was trying to malign his image.
Karthik, from Maduvankarai in the city, said he was happy to see Stalin in the train. “I took a jolly ride in the metro. I started from Alandur, went up to Koyambedu and returned to Alandur. Stalin was in our compartment,” he added.
Karthik is a visual communication graduate and his family members are DMK sympathizers. “My father is DMK member. So I have always been inspired by Stalin uncle. I tried to see him closely and all happened unintentionally,” he said.
Karthik expressed his displeasure at some comments appeared on social media. Some comments suggested he was drunken. “But I am a teetotaler. I feel very shy to come out of my residence. I don’t know why it has been politicized by the chief minister and others,” he added.
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