BJP brass tries to douse fire after Annamalai's remark on Jayalalithaa

The BJP leadership has intervened to douse the fire after Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai's remark on former CM J Jayalalithaa. Annamalai, without naming Jayalalithaa, had said that former chief ministers went to jail on corruption charges, evoking strong reactions from the AIADMK.

BJP general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu CT Ravi will visit the state after June 23 to hold discussions with party leaders as well as AIADMK.

"We are alliance partners in the NDA and I will visit the state after June 23. We will sit together and there will be no issues between the two parties at all," Ravi told ET.


Ravi defended Annamalai saying that he didn't name Jayalalithaa in his statement.

"He (Annamalai) was talking about corruption in the state and in that context, he mentioned governments and chief ministers," Ravi said.

Annamalai also tried to play down the situation on Wednesday. While talking to media persons in Chennai, he said that the alliance is decided at the highest level and there is no problem between the two parties. He added that he holds Jayalalithaa in high esteem.

Annamalai has been grabbing headlines because of his recent statements.

On Sunday, Union home minister Amit Shah visited Chennai. Shah had set a target of 25 Lok Sabha seats out of 39 of the state for 2024. Annamalai on Wednesday clarified that Shah had set this target for the NDA to win 25 seats and not BJP alone.

The arrest of DMK leader Senthil Balaji also acted as a healer as both the BJP and the AIADMK, which welcomed the arrest and criticised the DMK government in the state.

"V Senthil was earlier in AIADMK and was a transport minister when he did cash for jobs scam. It was Stalin who was demanding an investigation into the case. Now the investigation has taken place on a Supreme Court order, and he is currently a minister in the DMK government. Stalin now is defending him," Ravi added.