Chennai AIADMK’s basic secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on Wednesday met Union dwelling minister Amit Shah within the latter’s Delhi residence amid a severely strained relationship with the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit within the latest days.
The assembly is important as it’s the first between the leaders after the Election Fee of India (ECI) recognised EPS as AIADMK’s basic secretary following a chronic authorized tussle with expelled chief O Panneerselvam (OPS).
EPS was accompanied by senior chief KP Munusamy, P Thangamani, CV Shunmugham, D Jayakumar and SP Velumani. The assembly went on for greater than forty-five minutes, mentioned folks within the know of the matter. The AIADMK didn’t disclose particulars of the assembly and mentioned that EPS would meet reporters in Delhi on Thursday morning.
EPS has taken a stance that discussions of their alliance will solely happen with the BJP’s central management and never its state leaders hinting on the pressure with Tamil Nadu BJP president Okay Annamalai. EPS additionally withdrew AIADMK’s candidate D Anbarasan from Karnataka’s Pulakeshinagar constituency saying that it was a request from BJP’s central management. “Now that it’s clear that EPS is the AIADMK’s chief, it’s attainable that they mentioned how they’ll take issues ahead and started the discussions for 2024 Lok Sabha elections on this assembly,” mentioned a political commentator not wishing to be named. The AIADMK can also be more likely to have submitted an inventory of corruption fees in opposition to the ruling DMK authorities.
After eight months of authorized wrangling OPS difficult his ouster in final July’s basic council assembly EPS was made AIADMK’s basic secretary on March 28. The ECI on April 21 declared that they up to date their data with the modifications within the AIADMK and directed that the two-leaves image be given to the occasion. This was after EPS had moved the Delhi excessive court docket and the court docket on April 12 directed the ECI to resolve on updating their data with the modifications inside 10 days.
The AIADMK and BJP have been engaged in a confrontation again in Tamil Nadu. On April 14, Annamalai launched the primary a part of ‘DMK Recordsdata’ and asserted that he’ll expose corruption of all political events which have dominated the state thus far which not directly meant BJP’s ally AIADMK as nicely. Following this, a number of AIADMK leaders had mentioned that they had been able to face any record that the BJP leaders had been to convey out and so they received’t really feel threatened. EPS chided Annamalai as selling himself as a giant individual by merely talking in media interviews. “I’ve been within the occasion for 50 years. I understand how of issues. And leaders like us have come to a place to be answerable. Please don’t ask me something about him (Annamalai). Ask me about mature politicians and I’ll reply,” EPS mentioned on April 15.
Then Annamalai went on the offensive on April 16 issuing a warning that in relation to corruption they might not spare anybody. “We have now no mates right here. Everybody right here is our enemy,” mentioned Annamalai. “Whoever has indulged in corruption shall be considered by the BJP as an enemy. The plank of the 2024 parliamentary elections is corruption.”
Earlier than this alternate, EPS had additionally mentioned that AIADMK’s alliance with the BJP shall be mentioned with the latter’s nationwide management and never the state leaders, hinting at strained ties between his occasion and the BJP’s state-unit. His assertion got here when Annamalai had mentioned that the alliance between the 2 events for the 2024 basic election has not but been finalised. He sought to make clear Union dwelling minister Amit Shah’s latest feedback concerning the AIADMK being an ally, and mentioned the nuance of the feedback in Hindi had been missed by some reviews. Shah solely mentioned the AIADMK was presently a part of the NDA and didn’t touch upon 2024, the state BJP chief mentioned at the moment.