Amit Shah puts an end to speculations

After Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli MLA Nainar Nagendran was appointed by the BJP as the next Tamil Nadu BJP president in place of K Annamalai, Union Home Minister Amit Shah commented on the rumours surrounding Annamalai’s position. Reacting to rumours of Annamalai being removed from the post of state BJP chief due to his alliance with Edappadi K Palaniswami’s party AIADMK, Shah clarified, “This is not true at all.” Pointing to Annamalai seated on his left with a smile, Shah said, “Mr Annamalai is still the state president today and that is why he is sitting with me.” Announcing that both the BJP and the AIADMK will contest the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections together, he said, “The leaders of the AIADMK and the BJP have decided to contest the next Tamil Nadu assembly elections together with allies under the NDA banner. This election will be fought under the leadership of Narendra Modi at the national level and under the leadership of AIADMK chief Edappadi Palaniswami at the state level.” The Home Minister said that in a way, AIADMK has been a part of the NDA alliance since 1998 and for a long time PM Modi ji and the great (late CM) Jayalalithaa ji have worked together in national politics. He said that at one time this alliance had won 30 out of 39 seats in the general elections. I am confident that the NDA will get a huge majority and an NDA government will be formed in Tamil Nadu. Amit Shah also targeted the ruling DMK for diverting attention from important issues by raising matters like delimitation, NEET and three language policy. He said the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is plagued by massive corruption, atrocities against Dalits and women and a complete failure of law and order. Under the leadership of (CM MK) Stalin, the state has witnessed several scams including the Rs 39,000 crore liquor scam, sand mining scam, energy scam, transport scam, money laundering, nutrition kit scam, free dhoti scam, illegal raids, smuggling and MNREGA-related irregularities.