AIADMK asks BJP to rein in party cadres

Chennai: The raging tussle between NDA allies, BJP and AIADMK, in Tamil Nadu over alleged poaching took a curious turn on Tuesday with the BJP trashing another list of defectors released to the media as fake and second rung leaders of both parties playing down Monday’s unsavoury incidents relating to the imbroglio while the top leaders maintained a silence on the issue.

In Coimbatore, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan told media that the coalition was intact and defended State President K Annamalai likening himself to late J Jayalalithaa – a statement that drew the ire of AIADMK supporters who described Jayalalithaa was a one and only leader of extremely high political caliber, charisma and popularity incomparable with anybody’s.

That Vanathi Srinivasan chose to clarify matters relating to the squabble when Annamalai himself was in the same city came not only as a surprise but pointed to the State BJP’s reluctance to snap ties with the alliance partner, which it rides piggyback in the elections, without getting the nod for their leaders in New Delhi.

She clarified that the alliance question would be decided only by the national leaders of the BJP and that the emotional outbursts of second and third rung leaders of both the parties had led to the present situation.

Annamalai comparing himself with Jayalalithaa was only aimed at driving home the point that he was also a decisive leader capable of taking tough stances, she said and added that he meant no offense to anybody.

Stressing on the continuation of the alliance, she pointed out that the two parties had worked together in all the elections other than the local body polls, in which they contested separately due to ‘local arrangements.’

On the other hand, AIADMK leader D Jayakumar told the media that Annamalai should take action against his party members who burnt in effigy AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday at Kovilpatti because he admitted C T R Nirmal Kumar, who left the BJP after coming out with serious allegations against Annamalai.

Emerging from a meeting of AIADMK top honchos, including Palaniswami and presidium chairman Tamil Magan Hussain, he defended the induction of Nirmal Kumar into the AIADMK stating that they never poached anybody from anywhere. Whoever joined the AIADMK came on their own accord and the party only welcomed them, he said.

Jayakumar said that Annamalai should have kept his cadre under control and prevented them from expressing violently against the AIADMK, thus triggering the controversy and it was Annamalai’s political immaturity that led to the present situation. Palaniswami, despite attending the same meeting at the party headquarters, did not speak to the media.

Earlier a list of 10 district level office-bearers of BJP’s IT and social media wing of Chennai West district with Onathi Anbarasan as president was released to the media as the next batch of functionaries to leave the BJP. The statement signed by all the 10 functionaries said that they would not join the DMK and that they took the decision only to criticize the DMK.

However, the BJP claimed it as a fake release and re-issued an order that Onathi Anbarasan had come up with way back in 2022 with a list of office-bearers of his wing. Since none of the names matched with that in the first list that came out in the morning, the BJP claimed that was a mischief being played by someone to create an impression that people were abandoning the BJP.

But a president of the BJP OBC wing, Gomathi, joined the AIADMK in the presence of its leader Kadambur Raju at Kovilpatti.