- Wednesday, April 30, 2025
The AIADMK did poorly in alliance with the BJP in both the parliamentary elections of 2019 and state polls of 2021 when it lost power to rival DMK.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), a major political player in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on Monday (25) ended its alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi.
The development comes less than a year ahead of the next general elections and amid a controversy over remarks made by the BJP’s state chief K Annamalai. The AIADMK, the current opposition party in Tamil Nadu, had accused the national party of deliberately defaming its present and past leadership.
That the AIADMK was ending the alliance was announced by the party’s deputy general secretary KP Munusamy after a resolution was unanimously passed at a meeting attended by the party’s parliamentarians, state lawmakers and local leaders. He said the state BJP leadership has been making “unnecessary remarks” about its former leaders for the past one year and the former ruling party of Tamil Nadu was breaking all connections with the BJP and NDA.
Munusamy also said that the AIADMK will contest the 2024 election with its allies.
The AIADMK-BJP alliance fared poorly in the general elections of 2019 (could win only one seat) and the regional outfit also lost power to rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the state in the polls that were held in 2021. The AIADMK is desperately looking to regain its lost ground under the leadership post the demise of J Jayalalithaa, its former chief minister and tallest leader who passed away in 2016. Factionalism within the party has also been another challenge it has faced.
Sasirekha, spokesperson of the AIADMK, said the party was taking the decision to end ties with the BJP based on its members’ opinion. She also said that it was the “happiest moment” for them and they were glad to contest the upcoming elections — parliamentary or state — on their own, NDTV reported.
Celebrations were also seen on the streets of state capital Chennai as party workers burst firecrackers and distributed sweets. Some of them said that the AIADMK did not get minority votes because of the alliance with the BJP and welcomed the move saying the party would now win all 39 parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu.
Annamalai evaded questions from the media and said the BJP’s national leadership would respond to the AIADMK’s exit from the alliance.
At a meeting held in Delhi on Saturday (23) where the two sides tried to reach a consensus, the AIADMK stood firm on its demand asking Annamalai to either apologise for remarks on late former chief minister and a Dravidian icon CN Annadurai, who had inspired the party’s founder and former chief minister MG Ramachandran, or be replaced.
The BJP reportedly did not agree to shift Annamalai saying he was instrumental in reviving the party in Tamil Nadu and that he had made a remark alluding to Annadurai during the recent Sanatan Dharma row when a minister of Tamil Nadu attacked Sanatan Dharma by equating it with diseases such as dengue and malaria and sought its eradication.
Annamalai had remarked that Annadurai had insulted Hinduism at an event in Madurai in Tamil Nadu in the 1950s and then hid and could travel only after issuing an apology.
While the BJP tried to convince the AIADMK that it should not get offended as Annamalai did not criticise the party, that the ties had reached the brink could be sensed last week after an AIADMK leader said the party would decide on the alliance with the BJP before the next election.
The development in Tamil Nadu took effect just days after Janata Dal (Secular), another south Indian regional party, joined alliance with the BJP in the state of Karnataka neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
