The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, February 4, said that it is keen on supporting the candidate nominated by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, and it has asked the O Panneerselvam faction to support its decision for the February 27 byepoll to the Erode east Assembly constituency.
Making the party's stand with regard to the byepoll and alliance clear, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai said the party has appealed to both AIADMK leaders to face the election as one solid force and defeat the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-backed (DMK) Congress candidate.
“We have urged Panneerselvam to support Palaniswami's candidate (KS Thennarasu, former MLA) and work together to retain the AIADMK's Two Leaves-symbol and contest,” Annamalai said. Denying that his party was interfering in the internal affairs of the AIADMK, he told reporters here that the BJP wanted its ally to remain united and strong to defeat the DMK-led combine.
He said the BJP had conveyed to the two leaders currently in a leadership tussle that the saffron party did not want to contest the byepoll. “We want our ally to remain strong. We don't want to grow at the cost of somebody's weakness,” Annamalai said.
OPS indicated that he would support the move but laid down certain conditions, he said without divulging them. “I hope the two factions sort out the differences soon," Annamalai said.