No tie-up with BJP now, says AIADMK

Is the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) still part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)? A senior AIADMK functionary, D Jayakumar on Monday said his party is “not in alliance” with the BJP, following the latest spat between members of the former and the latter’s state president K Annamalai.

- Divya Chandrababu

 

The immediate provocation was Annamalai’s comments on CN Annadurai, one of the pillars of the Dravidian movement and the political mentor of AIADMK founder the late MG Ramachandran (who split from the DMK to form the AIADMK).

To be sure, the ire of Jayakumar, the party’s organising secretary was Annamalai more than the BJP’s central leadership. AIADMK chief and the state’s former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (aka EPS) has previously said that decisions on the alliance and seat-sharing would involve the party’s central leadership, not Annamalai. A senior AIADMK leader who asked not to be named suggested that a decision on the party continuing to be part of the NDA would be taken by Palaniswami.

A senior BJP leader in the state said: “Unless EPS makes a statement on the alliance, we will not take it seriously.”

Jayakumar was unsparing in his criticism of Annamalai.