JOIN USWill quit if BJP leadership decides to align with AIADMK: Annamalai
Amid a visible strain in ties between the two parties, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai is believed to have told an internal meeting that he was against an alliance with the AIADMK and opined that the saffron party should go solo beginning with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if it was serious about emerging as an alternative to the Dravidian parties.
The former Karnataka-cadre IPS officer is also understood to have told the closed-door meeting of state-level office bearers in Chennai on Friday that he would resign from his party post if the central leadership decided to align with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.
His comments created a stir with at least two leaders who were present in the meeting questioning the need for him to talk about an alliance in a state unit meeting, pointing out that such decisions are taken by the BJP Parliamentary Board in New Delhi.
BJP Mahila Morcha chief and Coimbatore (South) MLA Vanathi Srinivasan and vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy, according to sources, sought clarification from Annamalai after he told the meeting that he was against the party forging an alliance with Dravidian outfits. However, it is also learnt that Annamalai’s speech found support from other functionaries, who believe that the BJP should contest elections on its own.
Party leaders who attended the internal meeting told DH that Annamalai was categorical that the BJP should go it alone in the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu, without an alliance with Dravidian parties. They said Annamalai’s point was that if the BJP was to emerge as an independent party it should contest elections on its own.
"He said only when the BJP goes alone and contests, people will take our stand on corruption, nepotism, and good governance seriously. He acknowledged that there will be difficulties in building the party from the scratch and that everyone has to undergo extraordinary pain for a few years,” a leader who was present at the meeting told DH.
Another leader said Annamalai also told the meeting that he will quit as state chief and work for the party as an “ordinary cadre” if the Central leadership decided to align with AIADMK. The leader added that the ex-IPS officer said he came to politics and took up the leadership role to usher in a change in Tamil Nadu and not to play the “second fiddle” to the AIADMK.
Annamalai is also believed to have told the meeting that he has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain his position vis-à-vis alliance.
His statement comes amid a war of words between the BJP and AIADMK over the latter admitting members of the IT wing after quitting the former. It began with AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami welcoming C T R Nirmal Kumar, hours after he quit the BJP blaming Annamalai, into the party. The state BJP took objection to the development, which led to a verbal duel between the alliance partners.
While second-rung AIADMK leaders seemed to “welcome” Annamalai’s latest statement on alliance, BJP floor leader in Assembly, Nainar Nagendran, said it was the personal views of the state party chief. AIADMK organising secretary D Jayakumar said he cannot comment on statements made at an internal meeting but made it clear that his party will be the leader of the alliance in the state.
Annamalai’s comments are significant as both AIADMK and BJP have been maintaining that their alliance will continue for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The AIADMK and BJP came together for an alliance in 2019, three years after the death of J Jayalalithaa who had kept the saffron party at an arm’s length distance for at least a decade, but never won an election so far.
AIADMK leaders have been quite vocal about BJP being a “burden” for them especially because it has alienated the minorities from the party.
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