Chennai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s national general secretary CT Ravi and its Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai on Friday held meetings with AIADMK’s interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and the party’s deposed coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS), in a bid to convince them to work together ahead of the upcoming Erode bypoll.
Both the EPS and OPS factions have announced their nominees for the bypoll, scheduled to be held on February 27.
Addressing journalists after back-to-back meetings with the two leaders, Ravi said he has conveyed the message to both of them “on behalf of BJP’s national president JP Nadda”.
“We have urged both of them to work together in the interest of Tamil Nadu and to defeat the DMK alliance in this by-election,” Ravi said. “We are trying to unite the AIADMK.”
Despite the meeting, T Senthilmurugan, whom OPS has fielded, went ahead to file his nomination papers. February 7 is last date for filing nominations for the by-poll slated on February 27. OPS evaded reporters’ questions after the meeting. “When the time is right, I will talk about it,” OPS said.
After the meeting with EPS, his supporter and AIADMK’s senior leader C Ponnaiyan told reporters that they are cautious about their ally, the BJP. “We have seen how parties friendly to the BJP in north India have fallen and BJP has come to power. We are being cautious,” Ponnaiyan said. “As far as I know there is no merger. OPS doesn’t have any political party.”
Sensing an opportunity, two other expelled leaders V K Sasikala and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran supported the call for a united AIADMK. “If all the parties opposing the DMK come together and field one candidate, we have more chances of winning,” said Dhinakaran, founder of AIADMK’s breakaway faction Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, which has also fielded a candidate.
His aunt Sasikala told reporters that she has been reiterating that the AIADMK should unite. “I’m saying the same thing today. It’s not good for the AIADMK to be split like this,” said Sasikala.
Meanwhile, former law minister and a key EPS supporter C V Shunmugham was in Delhi on Thursday to meet the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The development comes on a day, when the Supreme Court told the two warring factions of the AIADMK to jointly name a candidate who will represent the party in the upcoming bypoll to Erode (East) constituency in Tamil Nadu.
The EPS camp had recently approached the top court to direct the ECI to register him as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK, asserting that OPS was expelled by the party’s general council on July 11, 2022.
The ECI in its counter affidavit filed on February 1 in the Supreme Court had said that they have no such record. This position goes in favour of OPS as he has been claiming that he continues to be AIADMK leader as the party coordinator as per ECI’s records. “On behalf of the AIADMK, we have submitted a complaint that there are irregularities in the Erode East constituency,” Shunmugham said.
The BJP leaders led by Ravi, state president, K Annamalai and Karu Nagarajan, first drove to EPS’ residence in Chennai where he was accompanied by former minister D Jayakumar. From there, the BJP leaders went to OPS’ house where other expelled leaders JCD Prabhakar and R Vathilingam were present. “It was a very good visit,” said Ravi.
“I conveyed some things on behalf of our National President Thiru. J P Nadda. I’ll not disclose what we spoke individually to you now.” Back in 2017, the BJP was instrumental in bringing EPS-OPS together following J Jayalalithaa’s death and they remained in the dual leadership until last July.
The bypoll which was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Thirumahan Everaa. The DMK-led alliance has now fielded his father and former Tamil Nadu Congress chief E V K S Elangovan. “We all know how by- elections happen especially when the DMK is known for its usage of money power and misuse of government machinery,” Ravi said. “We are already seeing that in Erode. That’s why a united NDA and united AIADMK is much needed to defeat this theeya sakthi (evil force).”
AIADMK is unhappy with BJP’s interference. The party’s IT wing secretary, Singai G Ramachandran belonging to the EPS camp tweeted, “Who the hell is C T Ravi to tell us what we should do in our party? Just because you are from a National party does it mean you can dictate anything? Will C T Ravi be okay if we tell them how they should run BJP Karnataka?” He also questioned the basis for BJP’s advise since they haven’t won any election while the AIADMK has ruled Tamil Nadu for 30-years. “Please know your limits!” he said. The BJP has not reacted to this until the time of writing.
