New Delhi: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) announced on Monday that it is not in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the moment, and any such decisions will be taken during the elections.
“The BJP is not in alliance with AIADMK. We will decide about the alliance during the elections only,” party leader D. Jayakumar said. He also made clear that this is the party’s stand, not his personal opinion.
Fissures have been clear between the two parties of late, and Jayakumar too referred to these. “We can’t accept continuous criticism on our leaders. Annamalai already criticised our leader Jayalalithaa. At that time, we passed a resolution against Annamalai. He should have stopped this. He is criticising Anna, Periyar and the general secretary. No cadre would accept this. Tomorrow we have to work on the field. So without any option, we announced this. There won’t be any impact on us with this decision. We are confident of our victory,” he said.
Jayakumar was referring to remarks made by Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai, who had recently criticised stalwart Dravidian leader C.N. Annadurai. Annamalai said that in the 1950s, Annadurai criticised the Hindu faith but was staunchly opposed by freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar. Following the opposition, Annadurai apologised, Annamalai claimed.
Annamalai has since stood by these claims and said he can provide “evidence” for them.
“BJP cadres want AIADMK to be part of the alliance, but Annamalai does not want that. Why do we have to tolerate the remarks against our leaders? You (BJP) need to piggy back on some party (for votes), you do not have anything here. The BJP cannot set foot here. They are waste luggage. As of now, the BJP is not in alliance with the AIADMK. We will decide everything during the polls and this is the party’s stand,” Jayakumar continued.
State BJP vice-president Narayanan Tirupathy responded by saying that final decisions on such matters are always taken during elections. “Anything can happen in politics. Alliances are made during elections. Jayakumar said the BJP is ‘waste luggage’, does he or his party not know this during the 2021 election? What happened then? They (AIADMK) say the BJP is no longer part of their alliance, a decision will only be made during the polls,” he said.
Tirupathy also said that Annamalai’s statements were about things that had happened in the past. “Mr Annamalai spoke about an incident that happened in the past. If you have anything against it, you can argue it with whatever facts you have. Instead, you cannot criticise him or abuse him personally. Who is Jayakumar to say that Annamalai is not fit to be a BJP leader? What rights does he have? Is he a BJP member?
A few days ago, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami had met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.