EPS likely to meet Modi during PM’s visit to Tamil Nadu

AIADMK general secretary and leader of opposition in the assembly Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) will likely meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is scheduled to visit Tamil Nadu on April 6, leaders familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

PM Modi is scheduled to visit the state to inaugurate the Pamban railway bridge off the Rameswaram coast. “EPS is likely to meet the PM in Madurai on April 6,” an AIADMK leader said on condition of anonymity.

“When AIADMK and BJP come together again, arithmetically we will be stronger to take on the ruling DMK,” said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “After the PM’s visit, a decision on the state chief for Tamil Nadu will likely be announced.”

The BJP will elect heads for 13 state units, including Tamil Nadu. The BJP has appointed district presidents to all its 67 party units in Tamil Nadu. “The state elections for the president will happen in a week or two,” BJP state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy told HT.

The talks of alliance of EPS and Modi started with their meeting in New Delhi. Though denied by EPS on AIADMK-BJP alliance, Union home minister Amit Shah confirmed in March. This has also led to speculation about if BJP’s state president K Annamalai will get a second term.

Since the AIADMK quit the NDA in 2023 blaming Annamalai for criticising their Dravidian leaders, there has been a question on how the ties will be revived with him heading the state unit.

Two days after EPS met Shah in Delhi, Annamalai also flew to the capital to meet Shah. Annamalai has maintained that Shah’s word on the alliance would be final.

Amid the AIADMK-BJP alliance talks, senior AIADMK leader and former minister SP Velumani, who is close to EPS, was seen talking with BJP’s floor leader Nainar Nagendran, in the assembly, for over 10 minutes, a leader said. Nagendran, who left AIADMK in 2017, is among the names doing rounds to head the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP besides former state chief and minister of state L Murugan if Annamalai’s term is not extended, another senior BJP leader said.

On Sunday, Annamalai told reporters that he has given his assessment of the current political situation in Tamil Nadu to Amit Shah. “I even told him that I’m ready to work for the party as a cadre,” he said.

Meanwhile, the alliance talks have become complicated with various factions in the AIADMK voicing concerns on EPS who did not win a single election since he took over as the party’s general secretary. According to people familiar with the matter, BJP wants the three that EPS expelled — O Panneerselvam (OPS), TTV Dhinakaran (who leads the AIADMK’s breakaway faction, AMMK) and his aunty V K Sasikala — to be in their fold.

While Dhinakaran’s AMMK joined the NDA alliance and OPS took their support as an independent candidate — both before last year’s general elections — Sasikala has been inactive politically.

However, EPS is categorically against taking them back even after his meeting with Shah but the latter wants him to unite with them to form a stronger alliance, leaders from both parties told HT.

Besides, AIADMK’s veteran leader and former minister KA Sengottaiyan, who has been against EPS, met Shah on March 29 in Delhi. In response, EPS said that he was not aware of Sengottaiyan’s visit.

In February, Sengottaiyan skipped an event saying that only photos of EPS was at the party event while photos of the party’s founder MGR (MG Ramachandran) and his successor J Jayalalithaa were missing.

“There is still a year to go. We are speaking now but we will announce our alliance only closer to the elections,” the second BJP leader who has been for the merger said seeking anonymity.