Chennai: Tamilnadu House in New Delhi has been the hub of all action for the past few days, ever since Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the heads of the AIADMK, landed in the Capital Saturday to take part in the NDA leaders meet.
Amid reports that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would be part of the new Cabinet to be formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will take oath of office 30 May, sources say a win-win deal is being worked out between the AIADMK and BJP.
“Two MPs of the AIADMK are likely be given ministerial berths. EPS and OPS have been asked to name them. In all likelihood, senior leader V Vaithilingam and Panneerselvam’s son O P Raveendranath Kumar will become Union Ministers,” sources say, adding that, in return, the AIADMK would offer a Rajya Sabha seat to the national party next month.
“Since all five candidates fielded by the BJP (Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, H Raja, C P Radhakrishnan and Nainar Nagendran) in Tamilnadu faced defeat in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, one of them will be elected to the Upper House and will be made Union Minister. By offering three Minister posts to TN even after the alliance faced a huge defeat in the south, the BJP believes it can create goodwill for itself in the State,” add the sources.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, it is learnt, has chalked out a plan to establish its roots firmly in Tamilnadu before the 2021 Assembly elections. “Various strategies are being worked out to achieve the mission as the party leadership has vowed to post victory here in the next polls,” sources state.
Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari renewed his assurance to bring water to Tamilnadu and said his first task (after taking charge) would be to link Godavari-Krishna rivers to make Cauvery copious.
Indicating that the BJP is still concerned for Tamilnadu, despite losing in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Gadkari said he would ensure water to the parched State.
Quoting the senior Minister, the State BJP tweeted: ‘My first job would be to link Godavari and Krishna and this (will) bring water to Tamilnadu.’ It added: ‘This is what BJP is all about. Even though you reject #TNRejectsBJP, they will do their duty.’
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