Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Tamilisai Soundararajan Thursday cleared the air about a video clip of an animated conversation Union Home Minister Amit Shah seemed to be having with her on the sidelines of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s swearing-in ceremony 12 June.
Amid a growing feud between the leaders of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit after the party failed to win a single seat in Tamil Nadu, the video clip had given rise to speculations that Amit Shah was admonishing her over comments on the Tamil Nadu BJP chief, K. Annamalai.
Tamilisai Soundararajan, who returned to Chennai 12 June only, initially refused to answer reporters’ questions about the conversation between her and Amit Shah at the Chennai International Airport. However, she took to X 13 June, late evening, to clarify that Shah had been following up with her after the elections and the challenges faced.
“Yesterday as I met our Honorable Home Minister Sri @AmitShah ji in AP for the first time after the 2024 Elections he called me to ask about post poll followup and the challenges faced.. As i was eloborating, due to paucity of time with utmost concern he adviced to carry out the political and constituency work intensively which was reassuring. This is to clarify all unwarranted speculations around…. (sic),” Soundararajan posted on X.
It all started after Soundararajan said that the BJP would have won more seats had it been in an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). “It is a reality that BJP would have won more seats and DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) would not have won these many seats had we been in alliance,” she said at a 6 June press meet in Chennai.
“This is an arithmetic calculation. As far as alliance is concerned, it is a strategy, and we feel it would have worked out, but Annamalai has thought otherwise,” she added.
In a separate interview on a YouTube channel, she expressed regret for some “anti-social elements” and “people with criminal backgrounds” finding their way into the party’s state unit.
“When I was in the party, I had some yardstick and would not encourage people who are anti-social elements, but in recent days, more of them having a criminal background have joined the party,” she said in the June 6 interview.
Though her accusations pointed towards Annamalai, he has not yet reacted to the comments. When ThePrint reached out to him for comments, he avoided responding and instead said that he would continue doing whatever work the party’s high command gave him.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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