Palaniswami to chair key party meet on September 25

While a party release did not disclose the agenda for the meeting, the discussion, however comes in the backdrop of strained ties with the BJP, its former ally.

Tamil Nadu’s principal Opposition party, AIADMK, has convened a meeting of its district secretaries, MPs, and MLAs on Monday, amid a standoff with the state unit of BJP headed by former Karnataka-cadre IPS officer K Annamalai.

The meeting assumes significance as it comes days after AIADMK Organising Secretary D Jayakumar said the BJP was not part of the alliance led by it in Tamil Nadu.

Notwithstanding Jayakumar’s statement, a high-level delegation from the AIADMK rushed to New Delhi on Friday to meet BJP President J P Nadda to apprise him of the situation in Tamil Nadu and the party’s stand on various issues.

An official release from the AIADMK said party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has convened a meeting of district secretaries, MPs, and MLAs at MGR Maaligai, the headquarters, at 3.45 pm on Monday.

However, the release didn’t spell out the agenda for the meeting.

Hours after the announcement, Jayakumar reiterated on Sunday that there was no change in the stand that BJP was not part of the AIADMK-led alliance in the state. However, he refused to come public on what transpired during the meeting between AIADMK leaders and Nadda.

There is intense speculation that Monday’s meeting will take call on the alliance question and discuss the situation that party finds itself in – it is being criticized by ally BJP day in and out with Annamalai leading the charge.

“We expect some clarity to come out of the Monday’s meeting vis-à-vis alliance with BJP. We understand that party leaders conveyed to Nadda their displeasure with the functioning of Annamalai and his statements criticizing the AIADMK,” a senior leader told DH.

Even after last week’s statement by Jayakumar, AIADMK leaders were tight-lipped about the alliance questions, with senior leader Sellur K Raju asserting that the ties were intact. Annamalai too spoke in similar vein saying there was no problem between the two parties.  

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. Despite AIADMK’s backlash, Annamalai refused to withdraw his comments on Annadurai, saying he never spoke ill of Annadurai but merely stated facts from an incident that took place in 1956.

“There is no question of apologising because I just stated facts. There are several people who have recorded this incident. I never spoke ill of Annadurai. I have praised him several times,” he added.