“We are making it very clear that there is no alliance with the BJP for the AIADMK. We do not trust national parties. They have not cared about the people of Tamil Nadu,” Edappadi K. Palaniswami, commonly known as EPS, announced amid loud cheers from the party’s cadre at the Shrivaaru Venkataachalapathy Palace in Chennai’s Vanagaram.
The AIADMK, which couldn’t win even one of Tamil Nadu’s 39 seats in the 2019 General election and was reduced to 65 of 234 seats in 2021 assembly polls, will work towards gaining the trust of the people, EPS said.
“We are not looking at the PM’s face. We only want to gain the trust of the voters and work for their welfare,” he told the party cadre.
The party also adopted 23 resolutions at the meeting, including some that criticised the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government over the prevailing law and order situation in the state and for allegedly not taking “adequate measures” to prevent extensive damage in the aftermath of Cyclone Michaung and unprecedented rainfall in the state.
Political analyst Priyan Srinivasan called the meeting a “routine yearly affair”, saying that the party held the meeting “without a proper vision for the upcoming election”.
But he also said despite the AIADMK’s claims about not allying with the BJP, the party is “still going soft” on it.
“The AIADMK, which was very harsh in its criticism against the DMK, still seems to be going soft on the BJP. Although the meeting saw EPS saying that the party won’t have an alliance with the BJP, it seems from their stand that they could still be open to an alliance sooner or later,” he said.
But J. Jayavardhan, a party leader and former MP from Chennai South constituency, dismissed such talks, saying that the party’s stand was clear.
“We are not looking at the PM’s face. In the past too, there have been regional parties who have contested Lok Sabha polls without supporting a PM face. Amma [former Tamil Nadu CM and powerful AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa] didn’t endorse a PM face,” he said, adding that EPS has been given a free hand to choose alliance partners.
On his part, BJP’s state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy said the issue of alliance will be decided by the party’s central leadership.
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‘Still going soft on BJP’
At the meeting, the AIADMK adopted resolutions claiming “irregularities” in the distribution of cyclone relief and condemned the DMK government for not telecasting live assembly sessions and for blacking out EPS’s speeches in the assembly.
The party also condemned the security breach in Parliament on 13 December, and urged the “Centre and states to exercise extreme caution in the matters of securities”.
Another resolution urged the state government to take steps to take back the long-disputed Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka. A special resolution was also moved to celebrate the birth centenary of the party’s late leader and former Chief Minister V.N. Janaki Ramachandran, wife of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran.
However, the decision to not ally with the BJP for the 2024 general elections remains the most significant development of Tuesday’s meeting.
Trying to decode the AIADMK’s stand on former-ally BJP, Priyan pointed out that despite having moved a resolution over the security breach in Parliament, there was no mention of the 146 Opposition MPs who were suspended from the Winter Session for demanding a discussion on the incident. This, according to him, is an indication that the party’s door is still open for the BJP.
The MPs were suspended after they disrupted parliamentary proceedings and demanded a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah over the security breach.
“Over 140 MPs were suspended and many important bills were passed and there has been no word from the AIADMK. Why has AIADMK lost its courage?” he asked, adding that the AIADMK’s move of going soft on the BJP will distance it from potential allies who are anti-BJP.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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