BJP President J P Nadda on Saturday announced that the party will continue its alliance with AIADMK for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections. Nadda, who is on a three-day tour of the southern state, was addressing a public rally in Madurai.
“I would like to share with you and declare here that the BJP has decided that in the coming times, BJP along with AIADMK & other like-minded parties will contest the elections,” said JP Nadda.
Earlier in the day, the BJP chief performed a ‘puja’ and sought God’s blessings at the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. After visiting the temple, Nadda chaired a meeting of the Tamil Nadu BJP Core Committee where he discussed the poll preparations with state-level leaders of the party.
This is the second time in January when the BJP President has visited poll-bound Tamil Nadu. He had earlier visited the southern state on January 14 to participate in the ‘Namma Ooru Pongal Vizha’ (our city Pongal festival) organised by BJP’s state unit.
Tamil Nadu, is among the five states, which are scheduled to hold assembly elections this year.
Top AIADMK leaders — K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam — had already confirmed the party’s alliance with the BJP earlier this month. Palaniswami is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu while Panneerselvam is his deputy.
The AIADMK had earlier led the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), its constituents being the BJP, DMDK and PMK among others, in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Saturday endorsed Chief Minister K Palaniswami as its CM candidate for this year’s high-stakes Assembly polls, where the party will take on arch-rival DMK in a tough electoral battle.
