The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was blindsided by the AIADMK announcing an exit from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) earlier this week, has deployed its central leadership to mend the ties with the former ally, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The party has begun a stocktaking exercise of the events that led to the allies falling out, party functionaries said, adding that a union minister, who is a senior party leader, is expected to submit a report on the ground situation, the concerns of the former ally, and the response from the party cadre.
On Monday, AIADMK announced a formal separation from NDA, accusing the BJP’s TN leadership of not showing respect to its past and present leaders. The party also announced that it will be contesting the 2024 election with its other allies. The AIADMK leadership in the past conveyed to the BJP their “discomfort” with its state unit president K Annamalai’s over his statements on the Dravidian party’s s leaders.
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According to a senior BJP leader, the central leadership of the party has stepped in to “salvage” the situation, expecting the two sides to bury the hatchet and begin afresh. “The central leadership is very keen on saving the alliance and that is why all the state leaders have been told not to comment on the alliance. Meetings… will take place over the course of the week and a decision announced,” the leader quoted above said on condition of anonymity.
A second leader also speaking on condition of anonymity said, while the central leadership has been made aware of the growing friction between the allies, particularly over the BJP state chief’s utterances, the situation was allowed to deteriorate.
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“The central leadership has made it clear that they do not want the alliance to break. But the state president is young and inexperienced… Senior leaders in the state are not consulted, and it seems the president lacks guidance,” the second functionary said.
