CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Minister for Municipal Administration, KN Nehru, has taken aim at AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, questioning his leadership of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state and pointing to his dependence on Union Home Minister Amit Shah for seat-sharing negotiations.
According to a statement from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nehru said that if AIADMK truly led the NDA in Tamil Nadu, seat-sharing negotiations should take place at the party’s headquarters in Chennai or at Palaniswami’s residence. Instead, these talks are being held in New Delhi at Amit Shah’s residence.
“If AIADMK is the leader of the NDA in Tamil Nadu, seat-sharing talks should happen at MGR Maaligai. Yet, Palaniswami is conducting them at Amit Shah’s residence. Not once have the discussions been held at the AIADMK headquarters or even Palaniswami’s Chennai residence. Couldn’t they at least meet at the Royapettah office built by MGR? Does AIADMK not have that strength anymore? The party headquarters on Avvai Shanmugam Salai might as well be locked until the elections are over,” Nehru said.
Highlighting party traditions, Nehru recalled that under former leaders MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, the leading party in an alliance would allocate seats to its partners. “The leading party should assign seats to BJP, PMK, AMMK, and others. That was the tradition under MGR and Jayalalithaa. Now, Palaniswami is waiting at another party leader’s house asking for more seats for AIADMK. This shows how things have changed,” he added.
Nehru also noted that Palaniswami’s multiple trips to Delhi for alliance talks are unprecedented for a party that has historically ruled Tamil Nadu several times. “Palaniswami has gone to Delhi five times to meet Amit Shah regarding the alliance and four more times after finalisation. Even AIADMK workers feel frustrated seeing what their party has been reduced to,” he said.
The comments come as Tamil Nadu prepares for single-phase elections on April 23, with vote counting scheduled for May 4.
(With inputs from ANI)