After the Prime Minister’s function, both Modi and Palaniswami met for around 10 minutes in a secluded place in Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium and had a brief discussion following which Modi left for Delhi. Initially, there were rumours that both Chief Minister and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam will meet Prime Minister separately, but Prime Minister met only the Chief Minister. 

“Prime Minister visited the state to inaugurate various events and it was an official function. They might have discussed projects and schemes for the development of the state and there is nothing wrong in Prime Minister meeting the Chief Minister after the function,” said Jayakumar, in reply to questions posed by media. 

Sources in AIADMK said that though Prime Minister did not hold talks with Panneerselvam his gesture to hold hands of both Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister and raising both their hands together showed that Prime Minister wanted both the leaders to stay united. 

However, the Prime Minister did not meet representatives of alliance parties such as PMK, DMDK and Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) who were present in the function. Initially, there was no invitation for alliance parties since it was a government function, but they were invited only at the eleventh hour. 

Alliance intact 

Meanwhile, BJP state president L Murugan, while addressing reporters, said that the presence of alliance parties in the Prime Minister’s function shows that the alliance is intact and there is no problem between them.