AIADMK general secy Palaniswami to chair key party meet on Monday

AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami will chair a party meet of key office-bearers, including the district secretaries and MLAs, on September 25, the party announced on Sunday. While a party release did not disclose the agenda for the meeting, the discussion, however comes in the backdrop of strained ties with the BJP, its former ally.

Meanwhile, senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar said there was no change in the party's stand that there was no alliance with the BJP.

The meeting will be held here at the party headquarters-- Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Maaligai on Monday, the release said.


All the headquarters secretaries, district secretaries and the party's MPs and MLAs should attend the meeting without fail, the release added.

Following a war of words over late Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai over certain remarks about him by the BJP state chief K Annamalai, Jayakumar had on September 18 called off the alliance between the two, insisting he was conveying the party's stand on the issue.

Amid dicey electoral ties, the AIADMK has sought an apology from Annamalai over his purported remark about Annadurai, even as a party delegation met top leaders of the saffron party in New Delhi.

The AIADMK delegation that flew to the national capital on Friday could not meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah but managed to meet party president J P Nadda and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, in-charge of Tamil Nadu, and sought the leadership's intervention in making Annamalai apologise.

If this was not possible, then they could consider posting a non-controversial leader who could work in close coordination with the AIADMK during the Lok Sabha election next year, they reportedly said.

The BJP central leadership, though not in so many words, conveyed that it backed the aggressive politics of Annamalai for the party's development, a senior party leader had said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Jayakumar said, "There is no change in our September 18 stand... there is no alliance with BJP."

He declined to speak further on the matter, indicating it might come up for discussion on Monday.