This comes days after AIADMK organising secretary D Jayakumar announced that ties between his party and the BJP had been broken.
"Though we are a national party, I want the State unit to function as a regional party and we have an aim to rule the State", Annamalai
“Neither I nor the BJP has a problem with the AIADMK,” Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai told reporters in Coimbatore on Thursday, 21 September.
This comes days after AIADMK organising secretary and former minister D Jayakumar announced that ties between his party and the BJP had been broken and that the saffron party was no more in an alliance with it.
Annamalai said, “Is there a problem between the BJP and the AIADMK? No. Is there a problem between a few leaders of the AIADMK and Annamalai? Maybe. I don’t know. But personally, I don’t have any problem with them.”
The BJP leader reiterated that he had not spoken ill of Dravidian icon and late chief minister CN Annadurai. He claimed he had only recounted an incident from 1956. Hence, he said, there was no question of tendering an apology.
“Late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi recalled the same incident in a railway department function during his tenure as chief minister in 1998,” he said.
Annamalai also said that the “common thread” that linked like-minded parties in the NDA was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He added that all who accepted his candidature for the post of prime minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were in the NDA alliance.
“Today former minister and one of the senior leaders of AIADMK, Sellur K Raju, said that the BJP should announce Modi as the prime ministerial candidate and Edappadi Palaniswami as the Tamil Nadu chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. How I will announce this?” Annamalai claimed.
“I will not leave my self-respect and do politics. I am here to develop the BJP in the state. That is the reason I was brought in,” asserted Annamalai.
“Though we are a national party, I want the state unit to function as a regional party and we have an aim to rule the state. All the parties in the NDA have ideological differences,” he added.
“The party high command knew the risks of bringing me as the head of the state unit. I did not come from the grassroots and I am not a seasoned leader with decades of experience. Such leaders will have an adjustment by nature and they know the tactics of compromise,” he said.
“But I am a rebel and aggressive by nature, and my high command and cadres know this. I am here to defend my party. At the same time, we are not competing with any party,” asserted Annamalai.
May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
May 16, 2024
