The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday removed party member and Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudy from the post of deputy general secretary after his allegedly defamatory remarks about women triggered outrage.

Chief Minister MK Stalin made the announcement in a statement, but did not provide a reason for the action against Ponmudy.

In another statement, Stalin said that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member and Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva had been relieved of his role as the party’s propaganda secretary and appointed as its deputy general secretary.

On Thursday, a video of Ponmudy purportedly linking sexual positions to Shaivism and Vaishnavism (two major denominations in Hinduism) at a public event on Sunday was circulated widely on social media, PTI reported.

The comments were made in the context of a joke involving a sex worker and her client.

Following this, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi criticised Ponmudy’s remarks and called it unacceptable. “Regardless of the reason for the speech, such vulgar remarks are condemnable,” she said on social media.

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party also criticised the minister and demanded his resignation from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led state government, PTI reported.

“Minister Ponmudy continuing in his post is shameful,” the news agency quoted Narayanan Thirupathy, vice-president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, as saying. “CM [chief minister] Stalin, will you order Ponmudy’s arrest?”

The BJP leader alleged that Ponmudy had maligned the women of Tamil Nadu with his remarks.