June 4 will decide fate of Annamalai, says Palaniswami
Taking a swipe at BJP State president K. Annamalai, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday wondered if the former would continue in his post after June 4, the day of counting of votes polled for the Lok Sabha elections.
Campaigning for DMDK candidate B. Parthasarathy, who is contesting from Chennai Central constituency, Mr. Palaniswami, taking an indirect jibe at Mr. Annamalai, said the AIADMK was not like “your [Mr. Annamalai’s] party, which appoints people from Delhi.”
Referring to the way government officials are transferred or their appointments cancelled if their functioning was found not to be satisfactory, Mr. Palaniswami said: “You are in a party like that. You have been given an appointment by them. Let’s us see later whether you would be there [as the BJP State president] after June 4.”
Mr. Palaniswami’s observations come in the wake of statements by Mr. Annamalai against the AIADMK. He said that Mr. Annamalai, without being aware of the history, has been “lamenting with frustration”.
The AIADMK was a party with over 2.06 crore members and “not a party like yours, whose members can be counted with fingers,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
The AIADMK came out of the alliance with BJP “only after noticing your [Mr. Annamalai’s] activities”, he added.
Maintaining that the AIADMK has its own unique strengths, Mr. Palaniswami cautioned against underestimating his party.
“Whoever intended to defeat the AIADMK would only be defeated,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Palaniswami also claimed that a film production house with which Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin was associated was forcing film producers to sell their movies, failing which they would not be able to “screen them elsewhere”.
“No one else would be able to buy those films. Hundreds of such movies have not seen the light of the day. They include many low budget movies,” he alleged.
While campaigning for AIADMK candidate J. Jayavardhan, who is contesting from Chennai South constituency, Mr. Palaniswami claimed that there were four power centres in the DMK government – M.K. Stalin, his wife Durga Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi Stalin, and his soninlaw V. Sabareesan.