In the midst of a crack in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK is set to hold a crucial meeting of its senior functionaries in Chennai on Monday.
Ahead of the meeting, on Sunday, party organisation secretary D Jayakumar, widely regarded as someone who represents the voice of the AIADMK high command, reiterated that there was no change in the party’s position that the BJP was no longer its ally.
“There is no change of opinion on the announcement made on September 18 that BJP is no longer an ally of AIADMK. I do not want to make any further comments before Monday’s meeting. Let us wait and watch,” he told journalists in Chennai.
A group of senior leaders of the party had recently gone to Delhi and met BJP president JP Nadda and party veteran Piyush Goyal, briefing them separately about the strains caused in the alliance by BJP state president K Annamalai, who had made adverse comments about the AIADMK’s icons including former chief minister CN Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa. Some sections speculated they had sought replacement of Annamalai to ensure better relations between the two parties, a demand, even if true, unlikely to be acted upon by the BJP high command.
Monday’s meeting will be chaired by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who is yet to publicly state his position on the ongoing friction with the BJP. Apart from party’s headquarters functionaries and district secretaries, the AIADMK MLAs and MPs will attend the meeting.
