Palaniswami to meet PM Modi; Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Tamil Nadu

This is Palaniswami’s first visit to Delhi after the AIADMK’s general council meeting earlier this month announced him as the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami will leave for Delhi on January 18 on a two-day visit to the national capital. He is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 19 and invite him to unveil a memorial of late former chief minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa in Chennai among other infrastructure projects for the state.

CM Palaniswami said agricultural and horticultural crops on 3,10,589.63 hectares were affected in Tamil Nadu due to the Nivar and Burevi cyclones witnessed during November-December last year.(Twitter/@CMOTamilNadu)

He is also likely to discuss the political situation in Tamil Nadu which goes to assembly elections in April-May. AIADMK’s former interim secretary, V K Sasikala is also likely to be released from prison on January 27, an event that is likely to cause ripples in Tamil Nadu's political fabric.

Palaniswami is also expected to meet other senior leaders. This is Palaniswami’s first visit to Delhi after the AIADMK’s general council meeting earlier this month announced him as the chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming elections. The AIADMK and the BJP allied ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and will fight the crucial assembly elections together. Senior BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda recently visited the state.

Last week, Palaniswami reviewed the on-going work at Jayalalithaa’s phoenix-style memorial on Marina beach in Chennai. In December 2020, the government appointed a special officer to expedite the work. The government is keen to inaugurate the memorial on February 24, the birth anniversary of Jayalalithaa.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also likely to visit Coimbatore district on January 23 for an election campaign. It is likely to be a three-day campaign in the western belt covering Coimbatore, Erode and Tiruppur, said a source. The western belt is the citadel of the AIADMK which the DMK-led opposition is working to win over. This comes close on the heels of Gandhi's recent visit to Madurai district on Pongal day on January 14 to witness Jallikattu where he was accompanied by their ally, the DMK’s youth wing secretary and MK Stalin’s son Udhaynidhi Stalin. Later, he had lunch with the locals and attacked the centre of suppressing the Tamil spirit. This was the first of his series of visits to the state ahead of the elections titled, ‘Rahulin Tamizh Vanakkam’ (Rahul’s Tamil Welcome).