Chennai: The national leadership of the BJP is in all likelihood intervening in the internal bickering of AIADMK which is a major ally of the saffron party in Tamil Nadu.
The AIADMK general council of July 2022 had expelled OPS and other leaders close to him and the faction led by EPS including leaders like former ministers D. Jayakumar and C.V. Shanmugham is totally against a re-entry of OPS.
The southern Tamil Nadu area has always been a stronghold of the AIADMK but with OPS and V.K. Sasikala, leaders of the powerful Thevar community out of the party, the AIADMK is in a sticky situation in its stronghold. The national leadership of BJP is expecting a few seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Tamil Nadu and for that, the saffron party knows that a unified AIADMK is a must.
OPS stated on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been enquiring about the AIADMK and that he speaks about the party being unified. This is in contradiction to the statement of EPS and those surrounding him that the BJP never interfered in the affairs of the AIADMK.
In another related development, the founder leader of AIADMK, A.C. Shanmugham who is presently the president of the New Justice Party of India has also expressed his wish to mediate between the two factions of AIADMK led by OPS and EPS. Shanmughan has also called upon OPS to not field a candidate in Erode East by-election as that would lead to the freezing of the ‘two leaves’ symbol of the party.
Shanmugham also said that the AIADMK was defeated bitterly after the death of M.G. Ramachandran as there were two factions led by J. Jayalalithaa and Janaki Ramachandran.
Sources in the Tamil Nadu BJP told IANS that the BJP national leadership is keenly watching the developments in the AIADMK and would intervene at an appropriate time to settle the differences between the two leaders, OPS, and EPS.
–IANS
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