Will discuss AIADMK’s ties with BJP, not its state leadership: Palaniswami
EPS' statement comes a day after state BJP president said the alliance between the two parties for the 2024 general election has not yet been finalised.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s general secretary and former Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on Monday said that his party’s relationship with ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be discussed with the latter’s national leadership and not the state leaders, hinting at strained ties between his party and the BJP’s state-unit.
His statement comes a day after state BJP president K Annamalai said the alliance between the two parties for the 2024 general election has not yet been finalised. He sought to clarify Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent comments about the AIADMK being an ally, and said the nuance of the comments in Hindi had been missed by some reports. Shah only said the AIADMK was currently part of the NDA and did not comment on 2024, the state BJP chief said on Sunday.
On Monday, EPS said the practice even when J Jayalalithaa was alive was for BJP’s central leaders to directly speak to the AIADMK on alliance.
To be sure, this is not very different from what Annamali said -- that the alliance would be finalised by the party’s central leadership.
Read here: BJP-AIADMK alliance to continue: E Palaniswami
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national party president J P Nadda are the people conducting discussions with us,” EPS told reporters. “The alliance was decided by the leaders at the Centre not by those in the state. Even leaders here (Tamil Nadu) have said that their leaders at the Centre will decide on the alliance. And those at the Centre have said that the alliance will continue.”
Last month, at a closed-door meet of the BJP’s state unit, Annamalai expressed his view that the party should break away from the AIADMK ahead of the general elections. On Sunday, former BJP state president and Union minister of state L Murugan said that Annamalai’s comments should not be taken out of context and that Shah had said that the alliance of the two parties was strong.
On Sunday, EPS addressed a public meeting at Salem, his first after he was elected the AIADMK’s general secretary. During his speech, he claimed there was likelihood of an assembly election in Tamil Nadu being conducted alongside the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and that if this happened, the AIADMK would defeat the ruling DMK. To be sure, the DMK enjoys a comfortable majority in the state, and the basis for EPS’ claim is not clear.
Rajya Sabha MP and DMK leader TKS Elangovan criticised EPS for making unfounded statements . “Edappadi doesn’t understand law. This government cannot be dissolved.”
