AIADMK hits out at ally BJP saying ‘the saffron party has no grounds in TN’

india

Updated: Nov 17, 2019 01:13 IST

Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its ally in Tamil Nadu, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) said the saffron party has no standing in Tamil Nadu and should therefore not assume that there is a political void in the state.

The AIADMK’s swipe comes close on the heels of the claim by BJP leaders that there were no towering political personalities left in Tamil Nadu. Former Union Minister and erstwhile BJP state president, Pon Radhakrishnan, and the party’s state general secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan, had raised the hackles of the AIADMK by making the claim on Friday.

Srinivasan had claimed that there was a “political vacuum” in the state since the deaths of the DMK and AIADMK bosses M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa respectively.

“There is no vacuum in Tamil Nadu. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and DCM O Panneerselvam (OPS) have filled the vacuum. The BJP is yet to make inroads into the state. Vanathi should ponder over that instead,” said AIADMK deputy coordinator and former state minister, K P Munusamy.

Tamil Nadu’s two main parties had earlier slammed film actor Rajinikanth, too, for stating the same.

Observers said the BJP’s comments were aimed to back aspiring politician Rajinikanth, who was the first to raise the bogie of a ‘political void’ in December 2016 and has reiterated it ever since.

“Even as the saffron party continues its coalition with the AIADMK, it is eyeing the matinee idol. The recent statements by these BJP leaders show that Rajini is more powerful than the AIADMK. This is why the BJP is endorsing his statement, instead of backing their ally,” political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy said.

Notably, the BJP and AIADMK had allied ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in March this year. The AIADMK had allotted five seats to BJP, which the saffron party contested unsuccessfully.