Chennai: The two Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu may not see eye to eye on any issue and their party cadres may be frequently at each other’s throats, but the two have found a common enemy in state Bharatiya Janata Party chief K. Annamalai.This is a direct result of Annamalai’s press meet on April 14 here, where he made alleged that Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin had purportedly tweaked tenders for the first phase of the Chennai Metro construction between 2006 and 2011, when he was a local body minister, and later, the deputy chief minister of the state.“I will file a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation against the chief minister, seeking an investigation into the tweaking of tender regulations for Phase 1 of the Chennai Metro Rail project 13 years ago to favour the Indian arm of a multi-national company for a quid pro quo,” stated Annamalai. He said that Rs 200 crore was paid to Stalin through shell companies for awarding the contract to the MNC.Annamalai also accused several other current DMK ministers, including the state’s sports minister and the CM’s son Udayanidhi Stalin, Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan and other junior and senior ministers. Annamalai named the allegations “the DMK files” and vowed to take the issue to the people across the state and make it a campaign issue for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.In a bizarre turn of events, Annamalai also spoke out against BJP’s own ally the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, stating that he will also release the names of former AIADMK ministers who were involved in corruption when the time was right. It is assumed that this was his method of saying that his fight against corruption will not be restricted to the DMK. Annamalai said that prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he will expose the “corruption of all the parties” that ruled Tamil Nadu. “If you do not want me to continue this, go talk to Delhi [leaders] and get me changed [as the president],” he said.Soon after this press meet on Tamil New Year’s Day, DMK’s organisation secretary R.S. Bharathi convened a press conference and strongly refuted the allegations. Bharathi called on Annamalai to apologise formally or find himself facing defamation charges.pic.twitter.com/a8ie2XfqWf— RS Bharathi (@RSBharathiDMK) April 14, 2023Following this statement, DMK on Sunday, April 16, sent a legal notice seeking damages to the extent of Rs 500 crore. But today, April 18, Annamalai has – in turn – sent a legal notice to DMK seeking damages to the extent of Rs 500 crore and Re 1 from Bharathi for levelling baseless allegations against him and his party.While the war of words between Annamalai and DMK are on, AIADMK has refused to involve itself directly in the debate. But it is not exactly happy with BJP at the moment.“I have little interest in discussing what an immature leader has said,” was the curt reply by AIADMK interim secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami. AIADMK spokesperson and former minister D. Jayakumar went a step forward and accused Annamalai of being a novice to politics. “If BJP wants to target someone, it should target the DMK. Annamalai is a ‘kathukutti’ (novice) and he is indulging in self-promotion,” said Jayakumar.”அதிமுகவினரின் சொத்து பட்டியலை வெளியிட்டால்.. எங்கள் ரியாக்ஷனை பார்ப்பீர்கள்” – ஜெயக்குமார் பேச்சு! https://t.co/Epi80eOhPt#jayakumar | #ADMK | #Annamalai | #BJP— PuthiyathalaimuraiTV (@PTTVOnlineNews) April 15, 2023Chennai Metro Rail also issued a press release stating that what Annamalai said was wrong and no such agreement with MNC was signed when Stalin was deputy chief minister. Press Release 15-04-2023 pic.twitter.com/Z3UUCfLlJi— Chennai Metro Rail (@cmrlofficial) April 15, 2023Annamalai, a former IPS officer and currently BJP deputy in-charge of the Karnataka elections, has been blowing hot and cold with respect to his alliances. The stance against alleged corruption appears to be Tamil Nadu BJP’s chosen path to wipe out both DMK and AIADMK.However, he is yet to prove that BJP has the strength to win even a few seats. Annamalai lost the assembly elections in 2021 by contesting from Aravakurichi assembly constituency by a margin of 24,816 votes against DMK candidate Monjanur Elango. Across the state, only four of his party candidates won, mostly thanks to its alliance with AIADMK. In the recent Erode East by-election, BJP refused to field a candidate though internally, it is learnt, many wanted the party to test its strength. Annamalai campaigned for the AIADMK nominee, but that too was for just a day or two.Unrest in BJP tooAnnamalai has also ruffled the feathers of some of his colleagues, leading to their resignation from party posts. On March 7, the Tamil Nadu BJP ‘information technology chief’ C.T. Ravi quit the party and joined AIADMK. Soon after that, Ravi took to Twitter to accuse the party’s state leadership of having shown scant regard to party workers and even alleged that Annamalai had engaged in surveillance against many.A little earlier, cultural wing leader Gayathri Raghuram had quit the party and said that there was no respect for women in the party under Annamalai. Political analysts feel that Annamalai’s corruption allegations appear to display an intention to play to the gallery. “Similar to what Annamalai is doing at present, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also played by the same rulebook in 1993 against the then Jayalalithaa-led government. Swamy used to claim that by December of that year, AIADMK government would be dismissed but ended in joining the AIADMK alliance later,” said political analyst Tharasu Shyam. He predicted that the same would happen to Annamalai before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Senior journalist S. Priyan feels that the BJP high command will take a decision about the Tamil Nadu BJP chief after May 10, when the Karnataka assembly elections are over. “Recently there was an internal meeting of state BJP cadres in which Annamalai has said that he wants BJP to contest alone in the 2024 elections and if the high command wants to have alliance with AIADMK, he is not ready to be the state chief,” said Priyan. But Union home minister Amit Shah, at a recent speech in New Delhi, had clearly said that BJP still does not have the strength to contest alone in Tamil Nadu and there will be an alliance with AIADMK.“It is not clear whether Annamalai has the blessings of the high command with regard to the recent accusations against DMK and AIADMK but any decision will have to wait for the Karnataka elections and we may see some changes after May 10,” said Priyan.
