Disquiet comes to the fore in AIADMK front

CHENNAI: A year after stitching a grand alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a disquiet appears to have emerged in the AIADMK front. Even as the internecine clamouring over the chief ministerial candidate for 2021 assembly polls is raging in the AIADMK, alliance parties have started asserting themselves, perhaps reminding the ruling party that they cannot be taken for granted.

A day after BJP national president J P Nadda’s onslaught on the state administration for “sheltering anti-nationals” — an attack presumably for the reluctance to rein in Karuppar Koottam,

DMDK leader Premalatha

said her party workers want to see Vijayakant become “king” (read: CM).

If it is mere posturing from the

DMDK

to increase its bargaining power, the BJP’s aspirations to lead the front should not be taken lightly as the party is on a recruitment spree to bolster the cadres’ morale ever since L Murugan assumed office as the state unit chief.

BJP state vice-president Vanathi Srinivasan said the ultimate goal of her party was to capture power in TN. She said the alliances stitched by both Dravidan parties are political arrangements which are intended for elections. “The Congress is in the DMK alliance, but they keep saying they want to establish Kamaraj rule. Similarly, the goal of the BJP too is to capture power in TN. It is to achieve that goal that we have been working hard for years,” she said. The ground situation was changing in favour of the BJP, she claimed. But for now, the NDA is intact in TN, she said.

Another BJP leader said dalits were showing enthusiasm to join the BJP. “Lots of partymen want us to contest alone in elections,” he said. The confrontationist stand of the AIADMK with the Centre on a range of issues like NEET, OBC quota and three language formula has irked the saffron party. Taking to twitter, BJP state general secretary K T Raghavan accused the

AIADMK leadership

of being “duplicate secularists” — staying silent on denigration of Kanda Sashti Kavasam while condemning desecration of Periyar statue.

The AIADMK leaders are hopeful that things would settle down and allies are merely posturing to buttress their importance. “These are pressure tactics to leverage bargaining power in the run up to the polls and take advantage of the confusion over the leadership in our camp. We will set our house in order soon and take all the allies along with us,” said a senior minister. The party is mulling over convening general council and executive committee meetings shortly to resolve the differences between OPS and EPS.