BJP alliance: AIADMK to hold key party meet on Monday

Chennai: AIADMK on Sunday announced that it will hold a crucial meeting of key office-bearers at the party headquarters in Chennai on Monday.

General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami will chair the meeting which will be attended by party district secretaries, elected office-bearers, MPs, and MLAs.

While a party release did not disclose the agenda for the meeting, the discussion, however, comes in the backdrop of strained ties with the BJP, its former ally.

Meanwhile, senior AIADMK leader and former minister D. Jayakumar said there was no change in the party's stand that there was no alliance with the BJP.

Following a war of words over late Dravidian stalwart C.N. Annadurai over certain remarks about him by the BJP state chief K. Annamalai, Jayakumar had on September 18 called off the alliance between the two, insisting he was conveying the party's stand on the issue.

Amid dicey electoral ties, the AIADMK has sought an apology from Annamalai over his purported remark about Annadurai, even as a party delegation met top leaders of the saffron party in New Delhi.

Sources in the AIADMK said that a large chunk of the party office-bearers, including district secretaries, are of the opinion that an alliance with the BJP will do more harm to the party than any good.

A senior leader of the AIADMK said, “The AIADMK is primarily a Dravidian party and in many issues we felt cornered due to our alliance with the BJP. Also there is a strong Muslim vote bank in Tamil Nadu and an alliance with the BJP will fetch not a single vote from that community. Coupled with this we have to face the arrogance of BJP state president, Annamalai also. The party leaders and cadres are fed up with these developments and in today’s meet many will express their dislike. Let ‘Annan (EPS)’ take a decision on this matter.”

The meeting will be very crucial for the political formulation in Tamil Nadu in the days to come.

With inputs from IANS