A fresh political tussle has unfolded between the DMK and Congress after the former alliance party questioned Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his stance on deletions carried out through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

The DMK’s remarks came amid a high-voltage protest by Opposition MPs in Delhi demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

The latest war of words began after DMK Official Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Saravanan Annadurai questioned Rahul Gandhi’s position on SIR in Tamil Nadu in a post on X.

Annadurai wrote, "What is the stand of Rahul Gandhi with regard to the deletions through SIR in Tamil Nadu?"

He further asked, "Why is he not endorsing Kharge-ji's statement that all state governments elected after SIR should be dissolved? Is he afraid of Tamil Nadu CM Vijay speaking about SIR in Tamil Nadu? What a duplicitous man."

The remarks come against the strained relations between the DMK and Congress since Tamil Nadu elections. The DMK has already withdrawn from the INDIA bloc and has indicated that it will pursue an independent political course while keeping its options open for future alliances.

The two parties had been allies in Tamil Nadu, but their political equations changed following the April elections and the actor-turned-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) won the state elections.

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The party has also skipped Opposition alliance meetings in New Delhi. It was absent from the recent meeting convened to make a strategy for a nationwide protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar amid EC-SIR row.

However, the DMK has hinted that it supports the Opposition’s broader concerns over the Election Commission and stands with the parties on the issue.

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Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have not yet responded to Annadurai’s remarks.

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took centre stage at the Opposition’s street protest in Delhi, leading hundreds of supporters and other Opposition MPs towards the Election Commission’s office. The protest resulted in a complete lockdown of Parliament Street, with Rahul Gandhi later staging a sit-down protest.

"All I want to do is meet the Chief Election Commissioner and tell him that he has done 'vote chori'. I can continue to sit here. I am comfortable here," he said. "If they don't want us to sit here, give us some other site."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also alleged that the people’s right to vote was being undermined and accused the Election Commission of functioning under the government’s direction.

"We are fighting against the injustice of the fact that the government is stripping away everything – all the rights of the people. And today, the universal adult franchise that we received after independence – this government is working to finish it off," he added.