AIADMK pulls out of NDA ahead of LS polls

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Monday broke off its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and exited the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), days after state BJP chief K Annamalai made controversial remarks about Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

- Divya Chandrababu

The AIADMK announced it will lead a state-level coalition, which means the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu fight, will be a three-cornered between coalitions led by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) it is part of the Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA- the AIADMK, and the BJP.

Tensions in the four-year-old alliance were simmering for a few months, but flared up on September 11 when Annamalai, citing an anecdote from 1956, said that Annadurai apologised to Forward Bloc leader late U Muthuramalinga Thevar for allegedly insulting Hinduism. The AIADMK denied the claim as untrue.

On Monday evening, after a two-hour-long meeting of AIADMK's general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) with his party's parliamentarians, legislators, district secretaries and top leadership in Chennai, the party decided to leave the NDA through a resolution passed unanimously.

Reading out from the resolution, AIADMK's deputy general secretary KP Munuswamy said, "To respect the sentiments of our two-crore cadre, from today the AIADMK is leaving the BJP and the NDA." "The AIADMK will lead an alliance to face the 2024 elections with other allies. This is a unanimous decision. Even one person did not oppose passing this resolution," he said.

"For the past one year, the BJP's state unit has been insulting Annadurai, E Palaniswami and late J Jayalalithaa, criticised their ideology and also belittled their mega conference held in Madurai in August after courts upheld EPS's elevation in the party and O Panneerselvam's ouster," Munuswamy added.