‘If Annamalai had controlled his mouth…’: Knives out between AIADMK, BJP after Tamil Nadu drubbing
Suggesting that it was Annamalai who forced the two parties to part ways, former AIADMK minister says an alliance would have won many seats
4 min read
In a statement, the AIADMK IT wing said that Annamalai had “no credibility to talk about AIADMK”. It said it wanted to remind him that “he should recognise the dangers to his own position before commenting on our leaders”.
After the DMK-led alliance swept all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK and the BJP – former allies who parted ways before this year’s polls – kicked off a war of words regarding the results.
The exchanges began Wednesday when BJP state president Annamalai took aim at the AIADMK, claiming that the party being pushed to third position in a dozen seats where the BJP or its allies came second was in itself a victory for his party.
Reacting to this, the former AIADMK minister R B Udhayakumar blamed Annamalai for the poor showing of both parties.
“If Annamalai had controlled his mouth, there would have been a better result. Only one leader is responsible for this massive defeat of everyone. For his inexperience, all parties in Tamil Nadu faced this tragic result. If he had learnt from his predecessors and controlled his tongue, even Delhi leaders wouldn’t be suffering this much. His wrong move made BJP short of a simple majority in Delhi,” said Udhayakumar, an influential leader in Madurai – one of the seats where AIADMK was pushed to the third position.
Suggesting that it was Annamalai who forced AIADMK and BJP to part ways, Udhayakumar said an alliance would have won many seats. “He attacked us when we were in the Opposition. He defamed us not knowing who is friend and foe,” he said.
In Coimbatore, S P Velumani, another AIADMK heavyweight and former minister, addressed the press with a clear message on Thursday morning. He said that an AIADMK-BJP alliance would have secured 30-35 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Velumani placed the blame for the split squarely on the shoulders of Annamalai.
“Our ties with the BJP were strong when Tamilisai Soundararajan and L Murugan were heading the party in Tamil Nadu,” Velumani said, adding, “The rift came after he (Annamalai) took charge, because of his speeches. He made derogatory remarks about our icons, C N Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa.”
He said Annamalai also spoke ill of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran and current party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami. “Annamalai is the only reason for breaking the AIADMK-BJP alliance, and he has no taller claims to make in Coimbatore. There were elections in the past when BJP’s C P Radhakrishnan gained more votes than Annamalai gained this time,” Velumani said.
Annamalai, who was the BJP’s candidate from the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, lost to the DMK’s Raj Kumar by a margin of 1,18,068 votes.
Firing back at the criticism from the AIADMK, Annamalai said, “AIADMK leaders claimed they lost seats in 2019 because of BJP, and would gain more in 2024 after parting ways with us. This shows an internal conflict between Velumani and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami,” he said.
“The same AIADMK is saying now that there would have been better results if they were in the NDA alliance. They called the BJP NOTA party. Treated us badly. Dictated we remain silent with five seats in 2019. They forbade us from holding the BJP flag in campaigns. Now, they claim we would have won all seats if we were together. Why did it take so long for them to realise this? The results were a punishment for AIADMK’s bad behaviour,” Annamalai said.
In a statement, the AIADMK IT wing said that Annamalai had “no credibility to talk about AIADMK”. It said it wanted to remind him that “he should recognise the dangers to his own position before commenting on our leaders”.
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