The AIADMK leadership on Wednesday cleared the air over its relationship with the BJP, stating that the alliance, which was formed for the Assembly election, continued.
AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami issued a joint statement, setting forth their position, hours after former Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam caused a controversy by saying the alliance with the BJP had alienated the minorities, leading to the AIADMK’s defeat.
“Let us stand by each other and strive for the progress of Tamil Nadu. Let there be no need for any doubt among anyone at any point of time on this matter,” the joint statement said, without naming the BJP or any other ally.
On Tuesday, Mr. Shanmugam, the AIADMK’s Villupuram (North) secretary, said at a meeting of workers at Vanur that though the AIADMK government had implemented several welfare schemes in the last 10 years and “earned a good name among people”, all calculations went wrong owing to a combination of factors, including the alliance and the minority vote.
“Had this [alliance] not been the case, the DMK would not have been in power today. Even if it had come to power accidentally, it would have only been a coalition government,” he said.
Referring to the Villupuram Assembly constituency, he said it had about 20,000 minority voters, 18,000 of them in Villupuram town alone. However, the party lost the support of the minorities because of its alliance with the BJP.
In the morning, the BJP reacted strongly to Mr. Shanmugam’s remarks. Thereafter, former Fisheries Minister and AIADMK organisation secretary D. Jayakumar said Mr. Shanmugam’s comments reflected an “indoor and off-the-record” discussion, and they merited no reaction.
In their statement, Mr. Panneerselvam and Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK lost the election “by a narrow margin” and yet, people still had their “affection” for it. They said that it was because of the “overwhelming support” of people that 75 candidates of the AIADMK-led front were now members of the Assembly. This marked a “commendation” of the AIADMK’s rule which had “worked for the progress and bright future” of the State over the last 10 years.
In the afternoon, Mr. Panneerselvam took to Twitter, seeking to put a lid on the debate, asserting that his party’s alliance with the BJP would continue, “given national interest and also the welfare of Tamil Nadu”.
He emphasised that “there is no second opinion on this [the relationship between the AIADMK and the BJP]”. Furthermore, his party had “full faith” in the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Panneerselvam’s response came barely a few hours before the Union Cabinet was reshuffled. Sources in the AIADMK said that though the leadership did not make any formal request to the BJP for a berth, the names of Rajya Sabha member M. Thambi Durai and Theni Lok Sabha member P. Ravindhranath did the rounds. (Eventually, L. Murugan of the BJP was inducted).
Earlier, asked whether the party would take any disciplinary action against Mr. Shanmugam, as demanded by BJP leader K.T. Raghavan, Mr. Jayakumar replied that no one had “the right to dictate terms” to the AIADMK on such a matter.