Chennai/ New Delhi: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will continue their alliance in Tamil Nadu for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a press conference Thursday, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) said, “There is no ambiguity…our alliance with the BJP will continue for the Lok Sabha elections.” This comes a day after EPS met senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter’s residence in New Delhi Wednesday. EPS had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day.
Also present were BJP national president J.P. Nadda and state unit chief K. Annamalai, along with senior AIADMK leaders K.P. Munusamy, P. Thangamani, D. Jayakumar, S.P. Velumani, and C.V Shanmugham.
It was the first meeting between EPS and Amit Shah after the Election Commission of India recognised the former as general secretary of the AIADMK a week ago. The long court battle between EPS and expelled leader O. Panneerselvam had also thrown up many uncertainties within the AIADMK.
It came at a time Annamalai and EPS were seen to be at loggerheads and had openly made remarks against each other.
A senior AIADMK leader, also a former member of Parliament, told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity, “This meeting in Delhi has helped the two look at the larger picture – the 2024 parliamentary polls.”
In a closed-door meeting on 18 March, Annamalai’s purported remark about breaking ties with the AIADMK had seen the alliance enter troubled waters. Earlier this month, when he released the ‘DMK Files’ — an ‘exposé’ by the state BJP on alleged corruption by leaders of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) — Annamalai had said that he would expose corruption in all parties that have ruled Tamil Nadu. The DMK and the AIADMK are the only parties that have held power in the state in the past five decades.
Reacting to these remarks, EPS and senior AIADMK leaders had said they would speak to the high command in Delhi and not with the state leadership, as has been the “tradition since the time of Jayalalithaa”.
BJP high command backs Annamalai
The Delhi meeting sent out two messages from the BJP high command to its Tamil Nadu alliance partner — hat there needs to be a synergy between the allies in their fight against the DMK, and that the AIADMK leadership will have to respect Annamalai and coordinate with him in the state, said a senior BJP party functionary speaking to ThePrint.
“(The meeting was about) rapprochement, synergy and a united fight…It was more of a message for the AIADMK…Annamalai’s presence was enough to convey that the BJP leadership was behind him and there is no question of excluding him,” added the functionary.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital Thursday, EPS insisted that all was well between him and Annamalai.Responding to reporters, EPS said, “There is no fight between Annamalai and us. If there was any fight, would he have campaigned for us in the Erode bypolls?”
“There are people trying to create fissures between us. (Earlier), some people tried to ask questions with that motive and to put a stop to that, I had said, ‘Don’t ask me questions about him (Annamalai)’.”
“Every party has the right to grow, and the AIADMK has no issues with the BJP in the state,” he said.
Focus on DMK
With the BJP’s state unit already stepping up pressure on the DMK with its DMK files and also release of purported audio clips of Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), the AIADMK has also been advised to join the offensive, said the BJP functionary cited above.
In his press conference, referring to PTR’s ‘audio clips’, EPS said, “Why has CM M.K. Stalin been silent on the allegations against son Udhayanidhi and son-in-law V. Sabareesan?”
A top BJP source said to ThePrint, “It was discussed (during the meeting) that it is time to attack the DMK collectively and point out the failure of its governance, corruption, nepotism, and dynasty rule. The AIADMK should use this opportunity with the BJP before the Lok Sabha election to swing the narrative in their favour.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)