Former Tamil Nadu minister S P Velumani on 6 June 2024 said that the AIADMK-BJP coalition could have secured 30 to 35 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if the alliance had persisted. He held K Annamalai, the state BJP president, responsible for the alliance’s dissolution. Velumani claimed that the alliance was stable under the presidencies of Tamilisai Soundararajan and L Murugan, and it was Annamalai’s speeches that caused the rift.
He accused Annamalai of making derogatory comments about AIADMK’s icons C N Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa.
Speaking to the press on this issue, Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party President K Annamalai said, “We are not with the BJP anymore, we will poll a large number of votes this time, we were pressurized to support a few laws brought in by the BJP government – this is what they thought. But now there is no pressure, they said. So, when I see Velumani’s statement, it seems there is some internal issue within their party between Velumani and Edappadi Palanisami. Be it Edappadi Palanisami or any other ADMK leader, after this alliance broke off, they gave us a different reason. That they will gain the votes of a particular community, that they did not have access to that particular vote bank, and that they had made a mistake. Those who said they were pressurized into supporting some laws, today they are saying that if BJP was with us, we would have won 35 seats, it only looks like there is a problem inside the party between SP Velumani and Edappadi Palanisami.”
"I think there's a rift between SP Velumani and Edappadi, Becoz both have different opinions regarding the Allaince"
– @Annamalai_k Anna so shrewd 🔥😂 #Annamalai | #ADMK | #NDAGovt pic.twitter.com/PSqrnC7OcV
— Karthi (Modi Ka Parivar) (@SaffronSurge3) June 6, 2024
Annamalai also argued that the AIADMK’s failure to win any seats was due to public rejection.
Interestingly, another BJP leader, Karu Nagarajan, agreed that the AIADMK-BJP alliance might have won 30 to 35 seats if it had continued, but he criticized the AIADMK for not making efforts to maintain the alliance and for blaming Annamalai for the electoral defeat.
The AIADMK performed very poorly in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The party lost deposit in as many as 7 seats and their vote share fell to 23%. They were pushed to the fourth place in several seats as Naam Tamilar Katchi moved up to the third position. BJP and its allies also secured the second place in atleast 12 seats.
(with inputs from Times of India)
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