AIADMK leader D Jayakumar’s statement that the BJP was not part of the alliance led by it in Tamil Nadu but a call on electoral tie-up will be taken close to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a clear indication that the ties between the two parties haven’t reached a breakpoint as yet.
Behind AIADMK’s tough talk and posturing are a slew of factors, including state BJP chief K Annamalai’s consistent attacks on Dravidian icons like C N Annadurai and public criticism of party seniors, and the saffron party’s “unreasonable demand” for 15 Lok Sabha seats in the next year’s election.
A day after Jayakumar’s statement, party leaders like S P Velumani and R B Udhayakumar attacked Annamalai but remained mum on the alliance question.
Trouble has been brewing between the two parties for the past several months with leaders from the AIADMK and BJP exchanging barbs only to reiterate a few days later that the alliance is “intact.” In March, they were involved in a public spat when the AIADMK welcomed C T R Nirmal Kumar into the party after he quit the BJP. But within weeks, AIADMK leaders led by Edappadi K Palaniswami met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and declared that they have had no issues with the BJP or Annamalai.
In June, Annamalai struck again by alluding that late chief minister J Jayalalithaa was “corrupt” prompting the AIADMK to pass a strong-worded resolution against him. But a month later, Palaniswami travelled to New Delhi to occupy the high seat at the NDA meeting and shared the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, and BJP chief J P Nadda.
The source of latest friction is Annamalai’s statement made on September 11 that Annadurai, the founder of AIADMK’s parent party DMK, had apologized for his “anti-Hindu” statement in the 1950s following objection from freedom fighter and Forward Bloc leader Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.
Add to this the BJP’s demand for 15 seats in the Lok Sabha polls and a proposal mooted by Annamalai to induct T T V Dhinakaran and O Panneerselvam, both expelled from AIADMK, into the alliance. However, there is also a realization in the AIADMK that it cannot face Lok Sabha elections without a Prime Ministerial face – in 2014, Jayalalithaa pitted herself against the BJP and made it a “Lady versus Modi” fight.
“We cannot accept proposals that will be inimical to the party in the long run. Why is he (Annamalai) making public statements against our leaders? We have no problem if someone wants to grow the BJP, but they should respect the alliance partner and alliance dharma. Our patience has a limit,” a senior leader told DH, blaming Annamalai for Jayakumar’s statement.
However, another leader said while the AIADMK doesn’t want to deal with the state BJP, the channel with the Central leadership is “open and intact” throwing ample hints that problems between the two will be sorted sooner than later.
“The BJP has understood the significance of AIADMK now and it is clear from the fact that Amit Shah directly talks to EPS, a departure from the past when he spoke through interlocutors. The two discussed politics during their meeting last week,” the leader said. He added that the BJP lives in an “illusion” that it has grown leaps and bounds in Tamil Nadu in two years.
The party was allotted five seats in 2019 and lost all, while it won just four of the 20 assembly seats it contested in 2021, the AIADMK leaders said. “Why should AIADMK give more seats to the BJP? What do we gain? Actually, nothing. If the BJP wants the alliance, it should respect us,” another leader said.