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Anirudha Karindalam
Anirudha Karindalam

TAMIL NADU

BJP gives 'moral support' to AIADMK for 'benefit of people'

Soundararajan talks about BJP's role in the AIADMK truce talks

The BJP has not denied that it is in talks with the AIADMK leadership. “But what is happening now in the AIADMK is its internal party matter. We don’t have any hand in it. We cannot be a mentor to the AIADMK,” said Tamilisai Soundararajan, BJP state president, to THE WEEK. “We are providing moral support to the AIADMK for the benefit of the people of Tamil Nadu,” she said.

tamilisai-soundararajan Tamilisai Soundararajan

Soundararajan said when the ruling party is divided into two or three factions, it affects governance, and hence the BJP and the Central government are intervening. “But for the long term, we want a government minus the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu,” she said. 

After J. Jayalalithaa’s death in December, the AIADMK broke into different factions. Recently, the O. Panneerselvam faction laid three conditions for a merger: keeping out V.K. Sasikala and her relatives from the party, ordering a judicial probe into Jaya’s death and converting Jaya’s Poes Garden residence—Veda Nilayam—into a memorial. The faction led by Tamil Nadu CM E.K. Palaniswami brightened the prospects for a merger after he constituted a commission of inquiry under a retired high court judge to probe Jaya’s death. He also agreed to convert Jaya’s residence into a memorial. 

Jaya’s niece, Deepa Jayakumar, said the government has no right to make such decisions without consulting her and her brother. “I have moral, ethical and legal rights over the house,” she said. 

Said V. Maitreyan, Rajya Sabha MP, to THE WEEK, “Let the merger happen or not. Whatever has to happen will happen. I don’t want to speculate at the moment.”

A final decision on the merger of the two main factions of the AIADMK will be announced most likely this weekend. 

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Topics : #AIADMK | #BJP | #Tamil Nadu

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