Let AIADMK poach, BJP will go stronger in TN: K Annamalai

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on Tuesday (March 7) claimed his party was growing in the state and this could be seen with the AIADMK admitting few BJP functionaries into that party.

Annamalai said certain “bold” decisions taken by him may not have gone down well with certain party members who decided to leave as a result. He, however, stressed that he has taken those decisions to achieve the party’s target in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Also read: Erode East bypoll: AIAIDMK rout poses major challenge to Palaniswami

“It’s good they left. Let them go. Only then new roles could be assigned to new persons who will emerge as next level leaders in the BJP,” Annamalai told reporters when sought for his reaction to Tamil Nadu BJP IT Wing chief C T R Nirmal Kumar and State IT Wing secretary Dilip Kannan, quitting the BJP and joining the AIADMK in the presence of its interim general secretary K Palaniswami.

Both the leaders announced their decision on their respective Twitter sites accusing Annamalai of engaging in a “surveillance” against many in the party.

There was a time when it was alleged that the BJP had to prosper only if leaders from the Dravidian parties joined it. “But our fortunes have changed. Now the Dravidian parties are growing with the entry of second, third and fourth level leaders from the BJP. Let them poach. Situation is bound to change,” Annamalai said before leaving for a party event in Madurai.

Those firm on the ideology will remain in the BJP, he added.

Asked if the latest developments would cause a rift in alliance between the two parties, he said, “I am not a manager of BJP to make idlis or dosa; but its president. I am a leader and will continue to take decisions like how late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took without fear or favour.”

He later explained that he used the analogy to elucidate that he would take bold decisions befitting his position.

“I may go slow now. I will shift to top gears in the coming days to show result in the elections,” the BJP chief said.

The AIADMK’s decision to admit Nirmal Kumar and Dilip Kannan did not go well with a section of the BJP.

Also read: Annamalai’s watch, cynosure of all eyes, is part of pilot equipment

Taking strong exception to it and alleging that the AIADMK had compromised on the alliance dharma, a handful of BJP youth wing members burnt a photo of Edappadi K Palaniswami in Kovilpatti in the southern coastal district of Thoothukudi in the State on Tuesday.

“Such is the politics of immature and half-baked,” R M Babu Murugavel, AIADMK spokesperson, commented on the burning of Palaniswami’s photos.

“It will be good if this continues, and what we have been expecting for a long time happens,” Murugavel said in a tweet and added that a few in the BJP were trying to project themselves as bigger than the AIADMK.