Amidst the ongoing tussle between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AIADMK has called for a meeting with all its party functionaries on Monday, September 25. In a circular issued by the party, it has asked all the party secretaries, district-level secretaries, MPs and MLAs to participate in the meeting. Sources say that the issue between BJP and AIADMK will be discussed in the meeting.
On September 18, the AIADMK announced that the party is officially ending its alliance with the BJP. The sudden development that shocked the state and national-level BJP leadership came after a comment made by BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai. He was speaking in a protest rally on September 11 over the Sanatana Dharma issue, when he spoke about an incident that reportedly took place in 1956 at the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai. Annamalai claimed that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravidian icon CN Annadurai was threatened by freedom fighter Muthuramalinga Thevar for speaking ill of Goddess Umaiyaval at a temple event. He also claimed that Annadurai went into hiding in Madurai and “Annadurai and PT Rajan apologised and ran away”.
This statement sparked a controversy with the AIADMK feeling that the BJP chief was constantly targeting its late leaders. In June this year, he spoke about former CM and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s conviction in the corruption case. In an interview, he had said that the period between 1991 and 1996, when J Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister, was one of the worst periods in terms of corruption. The AIADMK adopted a resolution against Annamalai, calling him “politically immature and inexperienced”, following which he said that his comments were “misterpreted”.
After the comment on Annadurai, AIADMK leaders attacked Annamalai, with several leaders - Sellur Raju, CV Shanmugam, and D Jayakumar criticising him for the comments. Sellur Raju went to the extent of threatening to chop off the tongues of those who speak against Periyar and Annadurai, and CV Shanmugam termed Annamalai’s padayatra the ‘vasool’ (money collection) yatra.
Meanwhile, a delegation of AIADMK leaders - Natham R Viswanathan, KP Munusamy, SP Velumani, P Thangamani CV Shanmugam, and Rajya Sabha MP M Thambidurai - went and met BJP national president JP Nadda and conveyed their displeasure over Annamalai’s attack on its leaders, and how it was impacting the alliance. According to sources, AIADMK wants Annamalai to be changed and another senior leader to take his place. Since there is no response from BJP regarding this, the stalemate between the two parties continues. It is in this backdrop that AIADMK has called for the meeting, and it is expected that the ongoing issue will be discussed in the meeting. The meeting is also seen as an escalation of the issue and AIADMK mounting pressure on BJP.