AIADMK chief E Palaniswami is a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu (file).
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK has severed ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance – just months before national elections – amid a row over comments made by the latter party’s state chief K Annamalai. The split was announced by AIADMK Deputy General Secretary KP Munusamy after a resolution was passed unanimously at a meeting of MPs, MLAs and district heads at the party’s headquarters in Chennai. “AIADMK is severing all ties with BJP and NDA from today. The state leadership of the BJP has been making unnecessary comments about our former leaders in the last one year.”
The news was celebrated by party workers setting off fireworks, and AIAMK spokesperson Sasirekha told news agency ANI: “…based on the opinion of the members, we are passing this resolution. This is the happiest moment (for us). We are very happy to be facing the upcoming elections (on our own), both in parliament and in the assembly.”
AIADMK spokesperson Sasirekha said: “…Based on the opinion of the members, we are taking this resolution… This is the happiest moment for AIADMK. We are very happy about the upcoming elections, whether it is Assembly elections or Assembly elections.. .” https://t.co/GiNZLJsRR7pic.twitter.com/wkwn2QYNEI
— ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2023
Mr Annamalai has so far declined to comment. He told reporters, “I will speak to you later… I will not speak during the yatra, I will speak later.” of the BJP leader ‘and man and makkal‘foot march ends in Coimbatore on Thursday.
At a rally in Delhi on Saturday – a last-ditch effort to revive strained ties – the South Indian party stood firm on its demand – that Mr Annamalai apologize for comments on late former Chief Minister CN Annadurai, or would be replaced by a ‘non-controversial leader’. Mr Annadurai was the mentor of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran.
A senior AIADMK leader said at that meeting that the discussions were ‘cordial’, but comments from the BJP’s M Chakravarthy painted a different picture. “…the leadership does not like the idea of changing Annamalai as he (has been instrumental in) reviving the party (in Tamil Nadu)…he only made a comment referring to Annadurai referred during the argument in Sanatan Dharma.”
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The AIADMK should not take offense as Annamalai did not criticize the party, he added.
The AIADMK-BJP alliance was on the brink last week after the former party’s D Jayakumar told reporters, “We will decide the alliance before the elections”. “Annamalai is unfit to be the state president of the BJP. He speaks ill of deceased leaders just to project himself,” he said.
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The BJP leader had earlier also been critical of late former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who remains an iconic, almost revered figure in the AIADMK. At that time, the southern party had demanded that the state’s BJP chief be reined in; Mr Annamalai regularly kills both his party’s ally (the only one in the state) and their common rival, the DMK.
His comments have led to speculation that the BJP is trying to carve out space for itself in Tamil Nadu – a state where it has so far failed to make any electoral progress – ahead of next year’s elections.
In March, he even spoke out against an alliance with the AIADMK, leaving senior leaders fuming.
“Annamalai does not want an alliance with AIADMK even though BJP workers do. Should we tolerate criticism of our leaders? Why should we carry you? BJP cannot set foot here…” Jayakumar stated.
The BJP has had friendly ties with the AIADMK but has generally been kept at arm’s length; Jayalalithaa never formed a formal alliance with them when she was in power as she believed it did not fit into the state’s political landscape, which is dominated by Dravidian ideologies.
The AIADMK has lost – by an overwhelming majority – all the elections in which it was allied with the BJP, including the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 elections, leading to it viewing the BJP as a liability in the run-up to the elections of 2024. In 2021, the AIADMK won only 75 seats — down from 136 five years earlier — and was ousted from power by the DMK-Congress outfit. In the last national elections, the AIADMK was similarly toppled – from 37 seats to just one – while the DMK went from 0 to 39 seats.
