Chennai: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has given a strong message to the BJP here through a mammoth rally held at Madurai that he is the single, uncontested leader of his party.
The AIADMK held a major show of strength on Sunday — the first big public meeting of the party since courts validated EPS’s election to the party’s post. The BJP after the advent of K. Annamalai as president has been time and again taking potshots at EPS and the AIADMK, and that the party would even face the 2024 Lok Sabha elections without the support of the AIADMK.
The mammoth rally was a clear message by EPS that he is the supreme leader of the party and that after MGR and J. Jayallaithaa he is the undisputed leader of the party. The AIADMK was reeling under trouble after leaders like O. Panneerselvam (OPS) were expelled from the party.
The party had also shown the door to leaders like V.K. Shashikala and TTV Dhinakaran. All three leaders are from the powerful Thevar community which has a dominant presence in South Tamil Nadu. By holding a mammoth rally in Madurai, South Tamil Nadu, EPS has also proven that he can organise a huge programme anywhere in the state.
There have been instances wherein BJP state president Annamalai has crossed swords with the second rung leaders of the AIADMK, including its spokesman and former minister, D. Jayakumar. With the huge rally, EPS has given a clear message that his writ runs in the party and that he is the only undisputed leader of the principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu.
The national leadership of the BJP has been clear that it can’t go alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but Annamalai, after taking over the reins of the party in Tamil Nadu, has been advocating for a solo emergence.
The Madurai rally which was attended by around 10 lakh people, as per the AIADMK estimates, is a clear message to both the state and national leaderships of the BJP that the principal opposition party is a major force to reckon with in Tamil Nadu and that it cannot be pushed aside.