Palaniswami faction backs NDA nominee

The AIADMK (Amma), led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Wednesday announced support to the NDA’s Presidential nominee, Ram Nath Kovind.

The announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his party’s support for Kovind.

A press release issued by the AIADMK headquarters here recalled the prime minister calling up Palaniswami, who is also party headquarters secretary, seeking support for Kovind, and said the matter was discussed by the party high command. Based on the deliberations, it was decided to unanimously extend support to Kovind, the release said.

On Tuesday, party leader T T V Dhinakaran had said in Bengaluru, after meeting his aunt V K Sasikala in jail, that AIADMK (Amma)’s stand on backing the NDA nominee would be decided by her.

Kerala JD(U) disagrees

The Kerala unit of JD(U), which is part of the Congress-led UDF, will vote against the party diktat to support  Kovind.

It has no MLAs in the Assembly, but its state president M P Veerendra Kumar is a Rajya Sabha MP.

Kumar said he had held discussions with JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in this regard. “I told Nitish Kumar it would be difficult to support the NDA nominee. He has given his approval to vote for the candidate desirable to the state unit,” he said in Kozhikode.