The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the largest opposition group in Tamil Nadu, made the decision to break off all connections with the BJP and leave the NDA on Monday. The AIADMK emphasised that the BJP had been making ‘unnecessary statements’ about the party’s former leaders when making the decision.
The choice, nevertheless, appeared to be the result of long-standing disagreements between the two parties, which were exacerbated by hostility towards BJP state chairman K Annamalai and other considerations.
The AIADMK is adamant that Annamalai was violating the “alliance dharma.” The prior BJP state presidents, according to senior party figures, handled the coalition with greater “respect” and “maturity” than Annamalai, particularly in admitting that the AIADMK is the organization’s leader in Tamil Nadu.
The party’s leaders believed Annamalai had always been unwilling to maintain their cooperation. The AIADMK draws attention to the BJP leader’s choice to run unopposed in the local body elections. Even if it takes time, Annamalai thinks the BJP must fight its own battles to advance in Tamil Nadu.
By meeting with both the Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS) factions during the Erode East by-elections, Annamalai is allegedly attempting to meddle in internal party matters. The AIADMK claims that the BJP wants the party to present a united front.
The leaders of AIADMK believe that Annamalai was attempting to position himself as the state’s opposition leader despite the fact that AIADMK is the largest opposition party. According to sources in the AIADMK, Annamalai, over the last few months, tried to pitch himself and the BJP as an aggressive opposition party. On several key issues, the BJP was perceived to be more vociferous in its attack against the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) than AIADMK.
An important Annamalai ally and the head of the BJP’s information technology arm, Nirmal Kumar, ruptured the alliance in front of EPS in March of this year. A number of more BJP officials joined the AIADMK after this.
The media handled Annamalai’s declaration that he will expose the corruption of all parties in Tamil Nadu, including the AIADMK, poorly when he revealed the “DMK files” in July, exposing the alleged corruption of prominent DMK leaders.
In a media interview in June of this year, Annamalai mentioned the late AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa and said that she had been found guilty of corruption. AIADMK leaders perceived this as an insult, and the party passed a strongly worded resolution against Annamalai, stating that he has no political experience or maturity.
The coalition was significantly weakened by an ongoing verbal and personal battle between Annamalai, his close party allies, and senior AIADMK leaders.
Annamalai declined to support the AIADMK’s proposals to present EPS as the Chief Ministerial face of the NDA in Tamil Nadu for the next elections. Annamalai asserted that he was not in a position to make an announcement and that only the national leadership would do so.
In a recent instance, the AIADMK leadership reacted negatively to Annamalai’s remarks on CN Annadurai, a former chief minister and a respected Dravidian icon in the state, and vehemently denounced his sentiments. Annamalai resisted offering an apology despite the AIADMK’s protests.
AIADMK leaders met with BJP national president JP Nadda and union minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi over the dispute and requested that the BJP censure Annamalai or remove him from his position. In order to avoid dealing with Annamalai during election season, the AIADMK reportedly also requested that the BJP leadership appoint an NDA convenor in Tamil Nadu. When neither of these requests was satisfied, the AIADMK finally ended the alliance.
These factors are linked to the idea that the AIADMK-BJP combination was extremely unpopular locally as well. As a national party, the BJP has been taking positions on important topics that are at odds with the views of the Tamil Nadu public and the AIADMK.
The AIADMK also thinks that the BJP’s cooperation cost the Dravidian party support from the state’s minority populations.
The senior leaders and cadres of the AIADMK did not like the partnership since they perceived it as being coerced.
