Maintaining that the series of meetings that had been held over the last two days in Delhi were purely meant to ensure better coordination between the Centre and the State, an AIADMK delegation consisting of Tamil Nadu Ministers P. Thangamani, D. Jayakumar and C. Ve. Shanmugam along with Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai and Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan on Wednesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
“We are meeting the Union Ministers to maintain a friendly relationship with the Centre and seek action on the pending funds and projects,” Mr. Thambidurai, who headed the delegation, said. Later in the day, the delegation was closeted for hours with legal experts. For now, the newly merged AIADMK (Amma) and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) factions has decided not to move the Election Commission against the petition filed yesterday by the faction headed by T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
“The ball is in Election Commission’s court. We are prepared to answer all questions and if they do ask us we will reply,” Mr. Maitreyan told The Hindu .
Delhi is abuzz with speculation that Mr. Thambidurai and Mr. Maitreyan will be accommodated in Union Cabinet in the upcoming reshuffle.
However, Mr. Maitreyan said: “We are not joining the government. We are not part of the NDA, and for now, it will remain this way.”
When asked if it is a deliberate decision to maintain a distance between the BJP and the AIADMK, Mr. Maitreyan said, “Let us put our house in order first,” he said.
