- AIADMK announced it will lead a separate alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
- BJP ‘firmly backs’ Tamil Nadu party chief after AIADMK ends alliance
- INDIA alliance led by DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will get an upper hand in the battle of the ballot
NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, SEPT 26
Tamil Nadu will face multi-corner contests in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls as the four-year long honeymoon between AIADMK and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to an end on Monday. With this separation, the INDIA alliance led by DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will get an upper hand in the battle of the ballot, say political pundits.
BJP high command refused to agree to the AIADMK’s demand for Annamalai’s resignation as state chief, sources said. They also said that the BJP does not plan to ask AIADMK to reconsider its decision.
The BJP faces a challenging time ahead and the party should gear up to oppose many people, its Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai said and expressed his resolve to overcome all hurdles to usher in a ‘political change.’
As president of the party, he said he is prepared to take on individuals and he wanted the cadres to be prepared to take on those who oppose them, and eventually win and ensure a regime change.
In a veiled reference to the AIADMK, which walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on Monday, Annamalai addressing party workers during his ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ (My land, My people) padayatra at Pollachi late on Monday night, he said “we have seen the need for a political change. This is a challenging time. We need to oppose many.”
He said he is determined to overcome the challenges. “If I don’t do certain things, then I will lose the trust you have placed in me…we need to face challenges, overcome hurdles, take a stance to oppose some individuals,” he added. In order to ensure this, the party should gear up in this direction, Annamalai said.
Ending its four-year ties with the BJP, the AIADMK announced on Monday to part ways with the BJP and said it will lead a separate alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. The decision to break away from the NDA was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by party’s general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai.
“AIADMK unanimously passed a resolution in the meeting. AIADMK is breaking all ties with the BJP and the NDA alliance from today. The state leadership of the BJP has been continuously making unnecessary remarks about our former leaders, our general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and our cadres for the past one year,” said AIADMK’s K P Munusamy
