BJP president Amit Shah on Friday made it clear to the AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam that their alliance for the Lok Sabha election must be called the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu.
The message was that though the AIADMK was the leader of the alliance, in which the BJP was a minor partner, having been allotted five seats, it cannot be called an “AIADMK-led alliance”.
Mr. Shah told Mr. Panneerselvam, who met him twice at the Madurai airport during the day, that, “now every programme will be NDA programme”.
BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was present at the time, reiterated the same in Tamil. A clip of the conversation was widely shared on social media platforms.
The BJP president said that the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and leaders of all alliance parties must be present at the NDA’s Kancheepuram rally, which was likely to be held on March 1. Mr. Panneerselvam, on his part, conveyed to Mr. Shah that when it came to other rallies, local leaders could attend.
