Jolt for BJP as AIADMK quits NDA

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, September 25

The AIADMK on Monday quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in a major upset for the saffron forces in Tamil Nadu on the eve of 2024 Lok Sabha elections where they were hoping to enter a pre-poll deal.

What went wrong

• Blames BJP state leaders for defaming Annadurai, Jayalal-itha, party chief Palaniswami

The AIADMK leadership passed a unanimous resolution today at a high-level meeting chaired by party president E Palaniswami in Chennai.

Although the resolution did not blame any individual for the break-up of a four-year-old alliance, it hinted at BJP state chief K Annamalai.

The development comes after AIADMK leaders met BJP president JP Nadda in the Capital recently and complained about “the aggressive nature of Annamalai’s politics”.

The resolution today sufficed to say, “With an ulterior motive, the BJP state leadership deliberately defamed Aringar Anna (Annadurai) and late party matriarch J Jayalalithaa as well as incumbent party chief Palaniswami.”

The AIADMK also lamented that the BJP had been critical of its policies. “Such malicious, wanton criticism targeting the AIADMK has been going on for a year and has led to deep resentment and outrage among our cadres and office-bearers,” the resolution said, spelling a major setback to the BJP, which lost its biggest ally in South India today. The AIADMK was also learnt to be upset about what its leaders call “BJP punching above its weight in Tamil Nadu”.

The BJP has been talking of contesting 15 Lok Sabha seats of the 39 in the state in the 2024 LS polls, a proposition unacceptable to the AIADMK. Importantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conscientiously building a pro-Tamil narrative as evidenced in the Kashi-Tamil Samagam; Saurashtra-Tamil Samagam and importance accorded to Sengol (the Chola-time symbol of transfer of power) in the new Parliament.

The AIADMK, meanwhile, has been calculating its own prospects, especially since DMK scion Udhayanidhi Stalin made anti-Sanatan Dharma remarks to gain political traction in a state dominated by Dravidian politics and yet to trust an alternative, which the BJP hopes to be.

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