CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s firm assertion on Wednesday that his party will not form a coalition government with the BJP ahead of the meeting scheduled on May 2.
The subsequent reiteration of the same by one of the party’s senior leaders and Rajya Sabha MP M Thambidurai have been received by party insiders as measures to ensure that the party executive committee meeting 2 happens smoothly with no public display of disappointment over the AIADMK formally joining the BJP-led NDA last Friday.
Palaniswami’s remarks on Wednesday came as a shocker since he contradicted Union Home Minister Amit Shah remarks at a press conference announcing the alliance on April 11, that the NDA will form a coalition government in 2026 under the leadership of Palaniswami in Tamil Nadu.
While the AIADMK rejoining the alliance after 20 months seemed to have generally caused disappointment among a section of the party, Shah’s announcement on a coalition government in particular was not taken well by many party functionaries TNIE spoke to, since it was viewed as a huge concession to the national party, considering how both the DMK and AIADMK had never ceded to the idea of a coalition government in the past.
Former Minister Sellur K Raju on May 13 expressed his displeasure to the media over the idea of a coalition government. Raju said the BJP leaders might say “thousand and odd things”, but the stand taken by the AIADMK would be final.
Party insiders said that it would be a daunting task for Palaniswami to sell the alliance, let alone the idea of a coalition government, at the executive committee meeting when there is criticism from opposition camps that the AIADMK is succumbing to the pressure put on by the national party.
A veteran involved in key party work said, unlike the other meetings, the forthcoming executive committee, which will be attended by district secretaries, MLAs, MPs and other senior functionaries, is expected to be stormy since the party leadership did not take the committee into confidence before finalising the alliance. Only a few top leaders were kept in the loop, he said.
“Therefore the party leadership is now conveying the message to the district level functionaries that the alliance has been forged on honourable terms and that the idea of coalition government has not been accepted,” he said.
The state unit of the BJP has curiously continued to downplay this development, by stating that only Shah will comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, AIADMK headquarters issued a gag order on party office-bearers to not give interviews or comment regarding the party’s stance on issues to television channels, social media, newspapers and other media platforms without approval from the leadership.