Four All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) legislators shared stage with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, a day after party general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) broke his silence on breaking the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The meeting took place a day after Sitharaman met BJP state president K Annamalai in New Delhi.
The EPS-led AIADMK left the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on September 25 holding the state unit led by Annamalai responsible. On Monday, he had said that the party decided to break alliance with the BJP and walk out of the NDA as per wish of 20 million party workers.
On Tuesday, Sitharaman was in Coimbatore for a credit outreach programme supported by NITI Aayog for which the district’s three AIADMK MLAs were invited. Legislators V Jayaraman, Amul Kandasami and A K Selvaraj called on her before the event and also shared the dias with her. Jayaraman said that there was no discussion on the alliance. “There was nothing political,” Jayaraman said, adding that they submitted a petition on issues faced by coconut farmers.
The BJP has not yet spoken on the AIADMK leaving the alliance and there are indications that Sitharaman has been tasked to prepare a ground report of the political situation in Tamil Nadu.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP has not yet spoken on the AIADMK leaving the alliance and there are indications that Sitharaman has been tasked to prepare a ground report of the political situation in Tamil Nadu.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, breaking his silence, the AIADMK general secretary on Monday evening said the party severing ties with the BJP was a reflection of the sentiments of its cadre. Given that the BJP was attempting a rapprochement, EPS’s silence thus far had left room for a possibility that the AIADMK may unite with them either close to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections or in a post-poll scenario.
“Despite the decision, many ask why Palaniswami hasn’t spoken on this,” EPS said. “This was not my individual decision, but that of the party. I want to end all the speculation by asserting that the decision to quit the alliance was unanimous. We are a strong party.”
But EPS reiterated that the AIADMK will go to the 2024 Lok Sabha without projecting a Prime Ministerial face, like other regional parties such as the Biju Janata Dal, YSR Congress, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi. “Whom did the parties in Odisha project in the last election?” EPS asked rhetorically. “In whose name did Mamata [Banerjee] seek votes in 2019? Whom did parties in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh project? For us, the people of Tamil Nadu are supreme, and we will continue to seek votes from them with the promise of raising their voice in Parliament.”
“We have announced our stand on alliance questions,” EPS said. “We will form a mega alliance under the leadership of the AIADMK. Headquarters’ office bearers, district secretaries, MPs, and MLAs aired the views of the 2 crore [20 million] AIADMK cadres at our party meeting last week. A unanimous decision was taken to sever ties with the BJP and walk out of the NDA,” he reiterated.