Amid standoff after break-up, AIADMK, BJP won’t up the ante till after Assembly polls

Sources said BJP has told TN state chief Annamalai to pipe down; EPS asserts on Wednesday that no channels opens with BJP

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Amid the standoff between the two parties, EPS is holding fast to his

Days after the AIADMK’s move to snap ties with the BJP, both the parties seem to have adopted a wait and watch policy in Tamil Nadu. While AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami or EPS remains unyielding over his party’s decision to exit from the BJP-led NDA alliance, the two camps are displaying restraint too.

The two erstwhile allies are said to have chosen to steer clear of any public showdown until December this year, which would mark the conclusion of a crucial round of state Assembly elections.

The outcome of four of these state polls – in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana – is likely to be a crucial indicator of the BJP’s standing and prospects on the national stage ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

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Highly-placed sources in the BJP have confirmed that the leadership has asked Tamil Nadu party chief K Annamalai to refrain from targeting the AIADMK for now.

Annamalai has been at the centre of discord between the AIADMK and the BJP, with a war of words involving them over the former’s critique of Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai leading to their break-up.

On Wednesday, Annamalai, who returned to Chennai from Delhi, was diagnosed with a viral infection. A private hospital bulletin while confirming it also revealed the doctors’ advice given to him: two weeks of bed rest.

While the meeting of the state BJP’s district presidents will take place Thursday as per schedule without Annamalai’s presence, his ongoing padayatra through all the constituencies in the state would now resume from October 16 instead of October 6 as planned earlier.

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Amid the standoff between the two parties, EPS is holding fast to his parting of ways with the BJP. The split, he said Wednesday, reflected the “sentiments of the AIADMK’s vast cadre”. “Let it be Amit Shah or Nadda, no one put forth any demands or troubled us,” he said.

Addressing the party leaders and activists at Salem Monday, EPS highlighted their resolve to forge a “major alliance” without the BJP for the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, EPS vehemently denied reports that the BJP and AIADMK were still engaged in talks. Maintaining that the AIADMK did not have a tie-up with the BJP any longer, he said Annamalai’s statement that their alliance still existed might be his own wish.

“We have already clarified about our decision to exit from the BJP and NDA alliance. That was a unanimous decision taken by the AIADMK high-level meeting considering the sentiments of party cadres. Our decision is clear. And it has been announced also. What is the point in asking again and again about an alliance with BJP?” EPS replied to repeated questions from media persons. “We will form a major alliance in 2024 and you will have to wait and see how big it will be,” he added.

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A senior AIADMK leader told The Indian Express that they will continue to make “fitting retort” to Annamalai’s “confrontational statements” but would remain silent vis-a-vis the BJP national leadership. “We need not change our stand but we will wait and watch until December 2023,” he said.