The party has so far been reluctant to acknowledge or validate AIADMK’s announcement of a Chief Ministerial candidate in Tamil Nadu.
BJP’s national general secretary and Tamil Nadu in-charge CT Ravi said the Chief Ministerial candidate for National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu will be decided by the AIADMK. His statement comes as a U-turn on the stance that Tamil Nadu BJP has been maintaining so far on the issue of the CM candidate for 2021 Assembly polls.
Speaking to reporters on Monday from Srirangam, Trichy, CT Ravi said that AIADMK is the major partner in the alliance while BJP is the minor partner. He implied that AIADMK is empowered to choose the candidate for the Chief Minister’s post in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Assembly polls.
“EPS and OPS said in front of Amit Shah that we (the AIADMK) are part of NDA and that they will contest (the polls) together. In Tamil Nadu state, the major partner (is) AIADMK. They will decide who is the next CM,” he said. When a reporter asked whether the BJP is ready to accept AIADMK’s candidate as the Chief Ministerial face, CT Ravi reiterated that AIADMK is the major partner and BJP is the minority partner.
CT Ravi’s statement comes after days of the Tamil Nadu BJP repeatedly emphasising that the Chief Ministerial candidate will be announced by the central and senior leadership of the BJP. The AIADMK, on the other hand, had assured that it will face the upcoming polls as part of the NDA. However, the party had announced Edappadi K Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the polls earlier and had officially passed a resolution in the recent general body meeting held in Chennai for the same.
BJP leaders had shied away from acknowledging or accepting AIADMK’s choice of the Chief Minister candidate. When Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had visited Chennai recently, he refused to answer questions put forth by the reporters on the topic, fueling rumours of a rift between the two political parties.
Source: The News Minute