Chennai: Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) Tamil Nadu chief Okay. Annamalai can “change into a nationwide chief”, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh prophesied Tuesday — a transfer ally All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has termed a “injury management train”.
Singh was addressing a public assembly at Tambaram in Chengalpattu district as a part of the BJP’s nationwide outreach to mark the completion of 9 years of the Narendra Modi-led authorities on the Centre.
Looking for favour for Annamalai, Singh stated that any quantity of reward accorded to him could be “inadequate” given the best way the state BJP chief was working underneath the management of PM Modi to implement his insurance policies.
“I’ve been in politics for a very long time. I acknowledge individuals. And after seeing Annamalai, I can say, sisters and brothers, your Annamalai won’t solely change into a frontrunner of Tamil Nadu however can change into a nationwide chief,” Singh stated.
Addressing a public assembly in Chennai.
https://t.co/F2RsPhAWXa— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 20, 2023
His reward for Annamalai got here within the backdrop of ally AIADMK’s demand for motion in opposition to the previous IPS officer over a purported jibe he made at AIADMK matriarch late J. Jayalalithaa in an interview earlier this month.
On 13 June, the AIADMK — led by former Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Okay. Palaniswami — handed a decision in a closed-door assembly calling Annamalai “inexperienced and irresponsible”. A senior occasion chief who didn’t want to be named had instructed ThePrint then that the AIADMK was keen to rethink its alliance with the BJP if the latter doesn’t take a name on the demand for motion in opposition to Annamalai.
Requested about Singh’s remarks in Chengalpattu, AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan instructed ThePrint Wednesday, “Reward showered on Annamalai is a injury management train, with the decision handed by the AIADMK.”
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‘BJP has taken cognisance of the problem’
The BJP and the AIADMK have been at loggerheads since struggling a defeat by the hands of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led (DMK) Secular Progressive Alliance within the Erode East bypoll held in February this yr.
Annamalai, who was appointed state BJP chief in July 2021, has been advocating that the occasion contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with out the AIADMK as an ally in Tamil Nadu. He reportedly made the suggestion as lately as March in a gathering of BJP’s state-level office-bearers. Such remarks invited robust retorts from the AIADMK management.
In April, each events declared that they might proceed their alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after EPS and different senior AIADMK leaders met Union Residence Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J.P. Nadda in Delhi within the presence of Annamalai and state BJP leaders.
Whereas Annamalai’s remarks geared toward Jayalalithaa final month appear to have rocked the boat, the AIADMK has set the problem apart as soon as once more.
“The touch upon Jayalalithaa will not be a problem regarding the frequent man and is a matter between two events who’re allies. The BJP has taken cognisance of the problem,” stated Sathyan.
Former AIADMK MP Dr J. Jayavardhan instructed ThePrint that his occasion by no means demanded Annamalai’s elimination as state BJP chief. “We condemned his (Annamalai’s) speech in opposition to our previous chief (Jayalalithaa) and our robust opinion was put out within the decision in opposition to him,” he stated. Jayavardhan additional recommended that senior BJP leaders “who come right here (Tamil Nadu) must reward Annamalai so there’s a assured following for him”.
‘Duplicity of character’
In the meantime, in his speech Tuesday, Rajnath Singh additionally criticised Tamil Nadu CM M.Okay. Stalin for his stand on state minister V. Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 14 June in reference to the alleged money for jobs rip-off.
The ruling DMK has termed Balaji’s arrest a case of ‘vendetta politics’.
“My good friend Stalin has been criticising PM Modi and investigating companies over the arrest of his cupboard minister Senthil Balaji. Balaji has been arrested in a corruption case and Stalin himself known as Balaji corrupt when he was within the AIADMK and demanded his arrest. Now, when his demand is met, he calls it political vendetta. This duplicity of character is unacceptable,” Singh stated on the public assembly in Chengalpattu.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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