CHENNAI: The AIADMK-BJP spat escalated further on Tuesday with the district secretaries meeting chaired by Edappadi K Palaniswami condemning BJP state president K Annamalai for his remarks on former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
Annamalai, however, stood his ground saying he had not said anything contrary to the truth.
Significantly, the AIADMK resolution targeted only Annamalai and not the BJP. Former minister CVe Shanmugam said, “Annamalai and BJP are different entities since Annamalai has his own agenda.”
A resolution adopted at the meeting said that while BJP leaders had high regard for Jayalalithaa, Annamalai had made unacceptable remarks about her with an ulterior motive.
The resolution also described Annamalai as an immature politician without experience.
The resolution said BJP leaders like AB Vajpayee and LK Advani, senior leaders of various political parties and chief ministers had great respect for Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had called on Jayalalithaa at her residence.
“Jayalalithaa was instrumental in the BJP becoming a ruling party at the Centre in 1998. After 20 years, the BJP could reopen its account in TN Assembly with four MLAs only because of AIADMK’s support,” the resolution added.
Sources said all district secretaries vehemently opposed Annamalai’s remarks and that the ties with the BJP should be reconsidered if the party’s national leadership fails to take action against Annamalai for his remarks.
Criticising Annamalai, Shanmugam said, “Annamalai has no locus standi to criticise our leader since he has taken money and admitted people with criminal background into the BJP. Even his own party functionaries are levelling corruption charges against him. If anyone had been punished for corruption, it was a leader in BJP. But at that time, Annamalai was not in the party.”
Shanmugam also said if Annamalai did not like the alliance with AIADMK, he should have made it clear when BJP national leaders Amit Shah and JP Nadda said the ties would continue. Meanwhile, AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala also took exception to Annamalai’s remarks.
Replying to the AIADMK resolution, Annamalai said in a statement that a few former ministers had expressed views against him without understanding his interview properly and that he did not want to respond to them.
“In every election, those who came to power ruled the state by promising freebies, spending money during elections so that they can swindle people in the next five years. Through this, they have kept the poor and downtrodden people always poor. I hate this kind of politics,” Annamalai said.
Stating that he had not said anything contrary to truth in his interview, Annamalai asserted: “Corruption-free Tamil Nadu is my goal and I don’t want to mortgage my dreams and the future of the state for short-term political gains.”
BJP state vice presidents Karu Nagarajan and Thirupathy Narayanan took exception to the remarks of Shanmugam and Sellur K Raju.