The verbal volley between AIADMK and their ally BJP is getting bigger and vociferous. In the past few days, senior AIADMK leaders Ponnaiayan and Sellur Raju came down heavily on the saffron party while the likes of VP Duraisamy and NainarĀ Nagendran retaliated.
However the chief of both AIADMK and BJP parties tried to smoke a peace pipe stating that the comments made by them were individual. While Annamalai lavished praises on both EPS and OPS, the AIADMK bigwigs heaped laurels on Modi.
A few days ago, Ponnaiyan accused the BJP of double-dealing on Stateās issues and said the saffron party was trying to grow at the expense of the principal Opposition party. The former minister urged his party cadres to stay vigilant and use social media to expose the BJPās double standards before the public.
Ponnaiyan’s comments came as a surprise to the AIADMK cadres as he has been maintaining a steady silence in the past four years on the issue of the alliance with the BJP.
However a day after his outburst, OPS said, ‘We would like to inform you that the comments made by Ponnaiyan reflected his own views. We don’t endorse the same’.
Meanwhile on BJP leaders’ claim that they are the real Opposition in the State, Madurai West MLA and senior AIADMK leader Sellur Raju said, ‘AIADMK is the only opposition party to the ruling DMK and not BJP. AIADMK is a big movement with thousands of branches and crores of cadre.’
The former minister termed the crowd for the BJP events as ājust a flock of crows and said tha the turnout for ours (AIADMK) is a crowd with ideas based on political ideology.’
‘Crows would gather when they were fed by someone else and they would fly away to other places in search of food’, he said.
Meanwhile, Krishnan, a political commentator, said, ‘The AIADMK knows that the BJP is trying to make a dent in Tamilnadu and that the party fears that it was doing this at the expense of the AIADMK. The arrival of an aggressive leader like K Annamalai has led to the AIADMK becoming insecure as the BJP has been charting out schemes and programmes addressing the issues of the masses.’
Meanwhile,Ā former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami lashed out against BJP Tamilnadu unit’s vice president, SĀ Duraiswamy for saying that it was the four BJP MLAs who were more vocal in the Legislative Assembly than the AIADMK legislators.
The AIADMKās general council will meet on 23 June. During the general council meeting, which is being held for the first time after the poll debacle in 2021, the attempts by the BJP to play the role of the opposition and its anti-Tamil policies will be discussed.