Chennai: After hard bargaining that went on for nearly about four days, the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party has on Monday snapped its ties with AIADMK after seat-sharing talks between two parties for urban local body polls did not bear fruit. The BJP was the second party after Pattali Makkal Katchi which broke its alliance with AIADMK during October 2021 rural local body polls.
However, TN BJP president K Annamalai maintained that there is no break-up in the alliance and AIADMK will continue to remain in National Democratic Alliance (NDA) till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing the media after holding an emergency meeting at the party headquarters, TN BJP president K Annamalai said that "the BJP is the fastest-growing party in Tamil Nadu and that the BJP is going alone in the urban local body elections in deference to the voices of the volunteers." He stressed that BJP candidates would be fielded all over Tamil Nadu and would soon release the preliminary list of candidates.
Stating that lotus should always be an opportunity to take the party house-to-house for the next phase of development of the party, Annamalai noted that the decision of the BJP was to listen to the voice of good governance.
"The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would continue its good relations with the AIADMK at the all India level. Further, the AIADMK leaders had given their full support to the important decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the NDA with the AIADMK would continue till 2024," Annamalai explained. Personally, the leaders I like the most are O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palanisamy and the BJP's common enemy is the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, he stated.
Meanwhile, sources said that seat-sharing talks were deadlocked, as the national party demanded a large number of seats from the TN principal opposition party. Moreover, the talks were held amid visible strain in the relationship between the two parties. This came in the backdrop of unpleasant remarks on AIADMK leaders by BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran in a protest held last week.
Reacting to the BJP's decision, former AIADMK minister D. Jayakumar said, "the AIADMK leadership will decide when the parliamentary elections are approaching. The BJP has announced that it will stand alone as the AIADMK has failed to live up to its expectations. That is their position on party interests. AIADMK is a big party that can only function in the interest of our volunteers and their interests."
On the question of whether the BJP will continue in the AIADMK alliance in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Jayakumar pointed out that it cannot be stated at present and decisions will be taken in the respective scenario and the AIADMK leadership will take a decision on this when the parliamentary elections come.
Commenting on this, A. Marx, a political analyst said, "if the BJP allies with AIADMK and faces the local body elections, it will add strength to the party, to some extent. Moreover, the BJP, which is staging protests in recent times to attract people, is under the impression that it will win the elections. But, the TN electorate is keen not to vote for BJP."
