AIADMK, BJP rift continues in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, May 1 Even as the national leadership of the BJP wants a truce with its alliance partner AIADMK, and a smooth and cohesive unit to fight the DMK in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the grassroots rift between the two partners continues.

BJP state treasurer, S.R. Sekar has in a tweet said that AIADMK was dismembered into six entities and that party was not in a position to allocate seats nor the BJP in a position to ask for seats and termed it 1 vs 6. He hinted that state BJP president K. Annamalai was superior to EPS and five other senior leaders of AIADMK.

This statement led to a major issue with the AIADMK organising secretary and former minister, D. Jayakumar saying that this was Annamalai's inability to control the party cadres. He also said that the AIADMK has disciplined cadres and IT wing and if they unleash these cadres, they would tear their critics apart.

Senior leaders of the BJP are not happy at the statement of the party treasurer S.R. Sekar, who is considered close to Annamalai, and say that such war of words will be at the expense of the BJP and more losses will be for the saffron party.

A senior leader of the BJP, who does not want to be named, told , "Annamalai is a rookie and he thinks that one day he can change the whole system. It is not like that and patience is the most important factor in politics. Annamalai's antics are creating issues for the BJP and the party will go down if the AIADMK alliance is not continued properly."

It may be noted that in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party could not win a single seat and the only seat for the alliance was from Theni where, O.P. Raveendranath son of O. Panneerselvam defeated E.V.K.S. Elangovan of the Congress. However OPS is now expelled from the party and it has to be seen on how the AIADMK-BJP combine will fare in the state in the 2024 polls.

R. Ganesh Krishnan, political observer and former professor of political science while speaking to said, "The bonhomie between AIADMK and BJP is passing through a bad patch and Annamalai is squarely responsible. He feels that in one day he can cleanse everything which is totally wrong in politics. AIADMK is better placed if they snap the ties with the BJP as then Muslim outfits and Dalit groups would extend their support to the party which would help it win seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls."

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