Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hit back at the DMK after party leader and Tamil Nadu Minister Dayanidhi Maran called BJP’s state president K Annamalai a “joker”.

“DMK is full of arrogance of power. One of their leaders, when asked about Annamalai, with arrogance asked: Who is that? He used insulting words. This arrogance is against the culture of Tamil Nadu. This arrogance will never be liked by the people,” PM Modi said at a public rally in Coimbatore’s Mettupalayam area.

“For a former IPS officer, for a youngster who has come from a backward class, for someone who works so much on the ground, the words used by the DMK show the real character of the party,” he said.

PM Modi was referring to Dayanidhi Maran’s interview to India Today TV, in which he dismissed Annamalai as being a political threat to the DMK in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Who is that? You are talking about that joker,” said Maran when asked if Annamalai is the rising star of the BJP.

When asked if the DMK was underestimating Annamalai, Maran said, “Are you overestimating him? He is a lame duck.”