Chennai, Nov 6 (IANS): Leader of Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) Arjun Sampath on Wednesday draped the statue of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar in Pillaiarpatti with a saffron shawl and applied sacred ash on the forehead and biceps and put a rudraksha chain around his neck.

Garlanding the statue he also prayed before it.

The statue was defiled couple of days back by some miscreants.

The desecration came after DMK President M.K. Stalin on Sunday termed the BJP's attempt to saffronise Thiruvalluvar to grow the party in the state as "Tamil betrayal".

Stalin was reacting to a tweet by the BJP's Tamil Nadu unit which posted a portrait of Thiruvalluvar in a saffron 'dhoti' with sacred ash on his forehead and biceps.

Along with the image, a couplet by Thiruvalluvar questioning the use of education for a person if he/she didn't pray at the god's feet was also posted.

Written by Thiruvalluvar over 2,000 years ago, "Thirukkural" or sacred verses, comprises 1,330 couplets on ethics and morality.

It is said that Thiruvalluvar was born in Chennai and there is a temple dedicated to him in the city.