Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanidhi on Thursday said 'Dravidatva', a term coined by him for Dravidian principles, would reject Hindutva if it preached 'irrational behaviour or ideology'.

Asked for his comments on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's views on Hindutva in his musings in Goa, Karunanidhi said the DMK would reject any principle that sought to segregate people in the name of caste.

Karunanidhi's introduction of the term and the caste factor assumes significance in the light of his earlier charge that the Tamil Nadu state BJP leaders were secretly working for an alliance with the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Karunanidhi had last week generated a controversy by charging the upper caste leaders in the state BJP of trying to split the DMK.

In a prompt reaction, BJP national secretary L Ganesan said Karunanidhi was trying to introduce caste-divisions within the party.

The DMK chief had also described the term Hindu as 'thief' during the height of the anti-conversion law row in the state recently.

More reports from Tamil Nadu