BJP-AIADMK alliance to continue for LS polls

Chennai: The visit of AIADMK general secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami, along with his acolytes, to New Delhi turned out to be a successful one as the delegation managed to get everything they wanted from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had given them assurances on their continuation in the NDA for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and to crack down on the DMK government in the State.

After the late night meeting with Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and State President K Annamalai on Wednesday, Palanswami spoke to the media on Thursday when he said that he had no problem or fight with Annamalai, making it clear that all differences had been ironed out and that the tie-up would continue.

He said that the allies of the AIADMK were independent parties that worked together during election and functioned on their own nurturing their own parties unlike the coalition partners of the DMK who behave more like slaves, daring to take stands opposing the alliance leader only in rare occasions like when a law was being brought in to increase the working hours in industries.

Referring to the allegation made in two audio clips, purportedly by State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (he has already denied that it was his voice and that it had been machine generated using AI), Palaniswami said that Rs 3000 crore was a big amount and that needed to be investigated properly.

Amit Shah, too, was seized of the matter and that the Union Government would look into the allegation, he said, adding that the Kodanad case should be handed over to the CBI for investigation since the DMK government would not do justice to the case.

It is said that Palaniswami rushed to New Delhi mainly to convince Amit Shah on the need to take away the Kodanad case investigation from the State Police as the noose was seemingly tightening around his neck. The way the investigations were proceeding in the case, it was felt that Palaniswami might be made an accused.

However, since the issues relating to the continuation of the alliance and the seat allocation were prime in the minds of the top BJP leaders, Annamalai was summoned from Karnataka, where he was taking care of election work, while Palaniswami took along with him to AIADMK leaders like C Ve Shanmugham, K P Munusamy, S P Velumani, M Thangamani and D Jayakumar.

The differences that had risen between the State BJP and the AIADMK were sorted out by Shah in the presence of both Annamalai and Palaniswami, who agreed to kiss and make up and not to rake up old issues as it had happened in the recent past, causing the bad blood.

Also the Election Commission of India and the courts recognizing Palaniswami as the general secretary of the AIADMK and recognizing that faction as the authorized party prompted Palaniswami to assure Shah and Annamalai that incidents like the AIADMK leaders asking BJP to not bring their flags for campaign in Erode East constituency fearing that they might lose minorities’ votes.

Palaniswami blamed the skirmishes between the two allies on the loose talk of second rung leaders with one remark sparking another from the opposite side. Now the parties would work together for the victory of the coalition, which they hoped would romp home the elections.

However, Palaniswami did not accede to the demand of the BJP for one third of the seats, which works out to 13, to contest from and is said to have arrived at a final number of 9 in Tamil Nadu and also giving the lone seat in Puducherry to the BJP.

Shah, on his part, is said to have agreed to name the constituencies that the BJP would like to contest from and also the possible candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.