AIADMK boss E Palaniswami is a former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (File).
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK has snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance – just months before the national election – amid a row over comments by the latter party’s state boss, K Annamalai. The break-up 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 head office in Chennai. “AIADMK is breaking all ties with BJP and NDA from today. State leadership of BJP has been making unnecessary remarks about our former leaders for past year.”
The news was celebrated by party workers setting off firecrackers, and AIAMK spokesperson Sasirekha told news agency ANI, “… based on members’ opinion we are taking this resolution. This is the happiest moment (for us). We are very happy to face the upcoming elections (on our own), whether Parliamentary or Assembly.”
AIADMK Spokesperson Sasirekha, “…Based on the members’ opinion we are taking this resolution… This is the happiest moment for AIADMK. We are very happy to face the upcoming elections whether it might be Parliament or Assembly elections…” https://t.co/GiNZLJsRR7pic.twitter.com/wkwn2QYNEI
— ANI (@ANI) September 25, 2023
Mr Annamalai has so far refused to comment. He told reporters, “I will speak with you later… I won’t speak during the yatra, I will speak later.” the BJP leader’s ‘en mann en makkal‘ foot march is to end in Coimbatore on Thursday.
At a meeting in Delhi on Saturday – a last-gasp effort to revive strained ties – the south Indian party stood firm on its demand – that Mr Annamalai either apologise for remarks on the late former Chief Minister CN Annadurai, or be replaced with a “non-controversial leader”. Mr Annadurai was the mentor of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran.
A senior AIADMK leader at that meeting said discussions were “cordial”, but remarks by the BJP’s M Chakravarthy painted a different picture. “… leadership does not relish idea of shifting Annamalai as he has been (instrumental in) reviving the party (in Tamil Nadu)… he only made a remark alluding to Annadurai during Sanatan Dharma row.”
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The AIADMK should not get offended as Annamalai did not criticise 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 on the alliance before the election”. “Annamalai is unfit to be BJP’s state president. He speaks ill of late leaders only to project himself,” he said.
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The BJP leader had previously also been critical of the late former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who remains an iconic, almost revered, figure within the AIADMK. At the time, the southern party had demanded the state BJP chief be reined in; Mr Annamalai frequently needles both his party’s ally (the only one in the state) and their joint rival, the DMK.
His comments have led to speculation the BJP is trying to engineer space for itself in Tamil Nadu – a state in which it has failed, so far, to make any electoral headway – before next year’s election.
In March, he even spoke out against allying with the AIADMK, leaving senior leaders fuming.
“Annamalai doesn’t desire alliance with AIADMK although BJP workers want it. Should we tolerate criticism of our leaders? Why should we carry you? BJP can’t set foot here…” Jayakumar declared.
The BJP has had friendly ties with the AIADMK but has usually been kept at arm’s length; Jayalalithaa never actually formed a formal alliance with them when she was in power because she believed it could not fit into the political landscape of the state, which is dominated by Dravidian ideologies.
The AIADMK has lost – overwhelmingly – all elections in which it allied with the BJP, including the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly polls, prompting it to look on the BJP as a liability ahead of the 2024 election. In 2021 the AIADMK won just 75 seats – down from 136 five years earlier – and was ousted from power by the DMK-Congress combine. In the last national election the AIADMK was similarly routed – going from 37 seats to just one – while the DMK went from 0 to 39.
