Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Chennai on Saturday (November 21) to inaugurate various developmental projects and also to meet with the party’s Tamil Nadu unit office bearers ahead of the Assembly elections that is to happen in a few months.
During the government function held in Kalaivanar Arangam, Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam who is also the AIADMK’s coordinator declared in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah that the party’s alliance with the BJP will continue for the upcoming elections which was also endorsed by CM Palaniswami.
Amit Shah too mentioned that the Centre would stand shoulder to shoulder with the Edappadi K Palaniswami government in serving the people of Tamil Nadu.
After the government function, Amit Shah headed straight to Hotel Leela Palace and had a brief meeting with CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam and Sunil Kanugolu, AIADMK’s poll strategist. During the meeting, Amit Shah is said to have asked what plans the AIADMK has to win the elections and offered some inputs in going about it.
Later at 8 PM, at the state office bearers and district presidents meeting he is said to have given a rousing speech enthusing the cadres. He cited the case of how Assam where the party had less than 1% vote share became a state to be ruled by the BJP.
Post this, a core committee meeting comprising of 14 senior leaders of the party which includes BJP National General Secretary (Org) B.L. Santhosh, BJP TN President Dr. L. Murugan, party affairs in-charge of Tamil Nadu C.T. Ravi and Sudhakar Reddy, State Vice Presidents Vanathi Srinivasan, V.P. Duraiswamy, Karu Nagarajan and K. Annamalai, State General Secretary K.T. Raghavan, State Organizational Secretary Kesava Vinayagam, among others. During this meeting, strategies for the coming election is said to have been discussed with the state leaders being advised to strengthen the party at the booth level.
At around 11 PM, Editor of ‘Thuglak’ magazine Auditor S. Gurumurthy arrived at Leela Palace to meet Amit Shah. Gurumurthy and his son Srinivasan is also said to have been part of this core committee meeting. Later, Gurumurthy reportedly had a one-to-one meeting with Amit Shah during which he is said to have apprised about Rajinikanth’s political entry.
Gurumurthy has been one of the vocal advocates of Rajinikanth’s political entry and for long have been giving hopes to the people of Tamil Nadu and the BJP central leadership about the latter’s political plunge. It was expected that as and when Rajinikanth flouts his party, he would align with the BJP or the alliance in which the BJP is part of.
Though Rajinikanth declared in 2017 that he entering politics is assured, he is yet to officially launch his party and begin campaigning given that there are just a few months left for the elections.
Recently, a letter supposedly sent by Rajinikanth to cadres of the Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) got circulated in social media in which it was stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had disturbed his political plans and that the doctors had advised him to take rest as he had undergone a kidney replacement surgery. Though Rajini distanced himself from the letter stating that it was not his, he mentioned that information about his health in that letter were true. He also clarified that as far as his political plans are concerned, a call would be taken after consulting the office-bearers of RMM.
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) October 29, 2020
During the Shah-Gurumurthy meeting, the latter had told Amit Shah about all latest developments regarding Rajini’s political entry. He had also told Shah that Rajini wished to be a part of a coalition of non-Dravidian parties (DMK and AIADMK). Rajini is said to have spoken over phone to Amit Shah during which he reportedly said that his health prevented him from campaigning. Sources also note that he did not commit towards openly associating with the BJP. The Shah-Gurumurthy meeting reportedly ended at around 2:30 AM.
With Rajini still dillydallying about his political journey, Amit Shah has charted plans for the growth of the party with or without Rajinikanth’s support. Amit Shah knows that the growth of BJP is not dependent on one individual. He has asked the BJP Tamil Nadu to concentrate on working at the booth level to expand the party’s base. Based on reports from intelligence and RSS feeds, Amit Shah is said to have cemented the AIADMK-BJP alliance sensing that there exists a potential for the alliance to emerge victorious.