Bharatiya Janata Party Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai said on Wednesday, June 21, that a united opposition to take on the BJP at the national level is only a dream. He was reacting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s speech at the Kalaignar Kottam inauguration ceremony held on Tuesday, where he called for opposition unity. 

Kalaignar Kottam, a memorial of the late chief minister M Karunanidhi, was inaugurated on June 20 at Tiruvarur by Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav. Karunanidhi’s memorial in Tiruvarur is a large structure that includes a museum and library. It was supposed to be inaugurated by Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar. However, citing poor health conditions, Nitish cancelled the Tamil Nadu visit at the last minute. 

Speaking at the inauguration, CM Stalin said that if BJP came to power again in the Union government, it would be dangerous for the country. Hence, he said, the unity of the opposition is important.

In a press meet held on June 21, Annamalai said that the Tiruvarur meeting is an example of CM Stalin’s poor ability to mobilise opposition parties. “After the President of India and the Bihar CM turned down the invitation, he invited the Deputy CM of Bihar, who is only as old as Karunanidhi’s grandson, to chair the function. This shows his lack of ability to unite the opposition. The unity of opposition parties is only a dream,” he said. 

Annamalai said, “The people of Tamil Nadu are unsatisfied with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) governance. Currently they stand no chance of winning in any constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. [Stalin] has been making such statements for the past three months to hide his poor governance.”