AMN / CHENNAI
Bharatiya Janata Party BJP got a big shock in Tamil Nadu as AIADMK leader and former minister D Jayakumar on Monday announced that his party doesn’t have any alliance with the BJP. He, however, said that a decision on a possible tie-up with the saffron party will only be taken during the elections.
The trigger point behind this, he mentioned, was state BJP chief K Annamalai’s recent remarks criticizing Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai.
“Annamalai doesn’t desire an alliance with AIADMK although BJP workers want it. Should we tolerate all this criticism of our leaders? Why should we carry you?” he told reporters.
He also claimed that BJP can’t set foot in Tamil Nadu and that it is known because of AIADMK. “BJP can’t set foot here. Your vote bank is known. You are known because of us,” he said.
The AIADMK leader further said that his party cadre will never accept the insult of Anna (Annadurai), and Periyar.
” With this decision (of not having an alliance with BJP), there won’t be any impact on us. We are confident of our victory. To date, we are the biggest Party in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu AIADMK leads the alliance and we will attain victory in the election. As of today, the BJP is not there in our alliance. We warned (the BJP) many times but they didn’t change their attitude. So no more alliance,” he added.
During a demonstration against the “Sanatana Dharma” eradication conference, Annamalai on September 11 criticized Annadurai for his alleged remarks against Hindu religion. The BJP leader also claimed that Anna’s remarks against Hindu religion were opposed by freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.
The AIADMK is a breakaway faction of the DMK, which was founded by Annadurai. The party follows the Dravidian ideology and considers itself as true heir to Anna’s legacy.
AIADMK was cautious in its criticism of Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s “Sanatana Dharma” remarks and said that the controversy was created by Stalin junior to hide the failures of his government.