Chennai: Ok. Annamalai, president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), mentioned Sunday that he’s firmly within the saddle for now and has been given a street map from the social gathering management for the following 5 years.
Talking to reporters in Chennai, the IPS-officer-turned-politician mentioned, ”Up to now 15 days, our PM Narendra Modi, house minister Amit Shah, and BJP nationwide president J. P. Nadda made my function within the social gathering, and what’s anticipated of me, clear to me.”
He added: “A street map has been given to me for the following 5 years and as a karyakarta [functionary], my job is to obey their orders.”
Get together sources had earlier instructed ThePrint, that in a closed-door assembly on 18 March Annamalai had purportedly mentioned he’ll step down if the social gathering continues to be in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Approaching the again of an influence tussle between the 2 events over the poaching of one another’s cadre, Annamalai’s assertion on not wanting an alliance with AIADMK might maybe have been the BJP’s try at speaking that it doesn’t wish to play second fiddle to the regional social gathering, political observers had instructed ThePrint.
On Sunday, the BJP Tamil Nadu president, nevertheless, mentioned he would proceed within the place even when AIADMK remained an ally.
The BJP state chief additionally mentioned that the social gathering’s ‘En Mann, En Makkal‘ (My land, My individuals) yatra in Tamil Nadu, within the run as much as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, will expose corruption within the state. The yatra is scheduled to start in June.
“BJP is in opposition to corruption,” Annamalai mentioned.
Additionally learn: ‘When Tamil Nadu grows, India grows’: How PM Modi pitched BJP’s imaginative and prescient for state in Chennai
‘Honourable and equitable alliance’
Annamalai’s assertion on the BJP’s roadmap for the following 5 years comes amidst reviews of the BJP-AIADMK alliance being in troubled waters.
Final week high AIADMK management met Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah and BJP nationwide president J.P. Nadda in Delhi. Annamalai was additionally current on the assembly.
A senior Delhi-based BJP functionary, chatting with ThePrint on situation of anonymity, mentioned, “Presence of Annamalai was sufficient to ship a message to AIADMK that social gathering management is standing unitedly with Annamalai.”
Equally, the Delhi assembly additionally made it clear that the BJP-AIADMK alliance was intact and can proceed for the 2024 parliamentary polls, the BJP functionary added.
Confirming this, Annamalai mentioned the AIADMK was the larger alliance associate within the state, however added, “We are going to go into the Lok Sabha election with Narendra Modi because the Prime Ministerial candidate and face of the NDA alliance”.
So far as the alliance in Tamil Nadu is anxious, “The BJP ought to have an honourable and equitable place within the alliance”, Annamalai added.
Corruption allegations
The state BJP chief Sunday additionally spoke concerning the corruption allegations that he has levelled on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) prior to now few weeks.
In a purported expose final month, titled the ‘DMK Information’, Annamalai has alleged that CM M.Ok. Stalin, had obtained a kickback of Rs 200 crore in 2011, for alleged favouring of tender for section 1 work of the Chennai Metro Line venture in 2011. Stalin had then been the deputy CM of the state.
“I used to be instructed that six others too have filed complaints [regarding the favouring of tenders]. A agency which had taken half within the bidding course of has filed a grievance,” Annamalai claimed Sunday.
Commenting on the raids carried out by the Earnings Tax (I-T) Division final week relating to the alleged tax evasion involving G Sq. Realtors, Annamalai mentioned, “The raid is happening for six days. We are able to assume that the quantum of fabric is heavy”.
The BJP has alleged that house owners of the development agency are near the ruling DMK, which is why the income of the true property agency had swelled for the reason that present authorities underneath Stalin was shaped in 2021.
On Sunday, Annamalai mentioned the present raids weren’t associated to the allegations made by BJP.
In an announcement it issued, G Sq. Realtors had mentioned it has been subjected to “unwarranted persecution” over the past couple of months by means of “unfounded allegations with no proof”.
Final month BJP leaders had extensively shared an unverified audio on social media, purportedly of Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), during which he allegedly mentioned how Tamil Nadu CM M.Ok. Stalin’s son, Udhayanidhi, and his son-in-law V. Sabareesan have “realised they’ve made more cash in a single yr… now it’s stepping into an issue”.
Speaking concerning the clip, Annamalai instructed reporters that he was prepared to provide the unique audio if a grievance is filed.
PTR has claimed that the clip presupposed to be his was “fabricated”.
On the authorized discover issued by DMK MP and deputy common secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in search of Annamalai’s unconditional apology for the allegations made within the ‘DMK Information’, he mentioned his allegations have been about wealth accumulation by DMK leaders.
In the meantime, allegations made in opposition to the DMK by the BJP have been additionally taken up by ally AIADMK, with social gathering common secretary Edappadi Ok Palaniswami (EPS) questioning CM Stalin’s silence on the corruption allegations levelled by the BJP and the purported PTR audio clip, whereas chatting with social gathering cadres in Salem Sunday.
“Corruption is rampant within the DMK regime. An audio clip the place the finance minister alleges that the chief minister’s son and son-in-law are concerned in Rs 30,000 crore corruption was circulated on social media lately,” mentioned EPS, including, “The finance minister says his voice was reduce and pasted. The chief minister is but to disclaim the declare or reply to it however stays silent”.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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