Palaniswami takes a dig at Annamalai; questions his fate after June 4

AIADMK's Palaniswami criticizes BJP's Annamalai, warns against underestimating AIADMK's strength in upcoming elections.

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 contesting in Chennai Central constituency, Mr. Palaniswami without mentioning Mr. Annamalai’s name 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 functions were not 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 of Mr. Annamalai against the AIADMK. Mr. Palaniswami said without being aware of the history, Mr. Annamalai has been “lamenting with frustration”.

The AIADMK was a party with over 2.06 crore members and “not like 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 said.

Maintaining that the AIADMK has its unique strength, Mr. Palaniswami cautioned against underestimating his party. “Whoever intended to defeat the AIADMK would only be defeated,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami claimed that a film production house, with which Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin was associated, was forcing film producers to sell their movies failing which they would not be able to screen them elsewhere. “None 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.