AIADMK snaps ties with BJP, to go solo in 2024 polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam at a rally in Andipatti, Tamil Nadu on April 13. (Image: Twitter/@AIADMKOfficial)

The AIADMK broke its ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on September 25 after a meeting at the party headquarters in Tamil Nadu. The party said the BJP had been making "unnecessary remarks about AIADMK's former leaders".

The party, led by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, said it would go solo for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "AIADMK unanimously passed a resolution in the meeting. AIADMK is breaking all ties with the BJP and the NDA alliance from today. The state leadership of the BJP has been continuously making unnecessary remarks about our former leaders, our general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and our cadres for the past one year,” AIADMK’s K P Munusamy told ANI.

The resolution, without naming anyone, said the BJP's state brass has been of late defaming CN Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa, besides criticising its policies.

The party cadre celebrated the end of the alliance by bursting crackers outside its office. The AIADMK-BJP alliance was on the brink after the former party's D Jayakumar told reporters "we will decide on the alliance before the election". "Annamalai is unfit to be BJP's state president. He speaks ill of late leaders only to project himself," he had told news agencies.