Following party’s invitation, Annamalai was in Delhi after breaking his yatra. In the national Capital he met BJP national president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman. There were speculations in the Tamil Nadu media that he was called to know his point of view over breaking the alliance with AIADMK.
Rumours were doing the rounds that Annamalai would be removed from the present post. They spread that Annamalai would be sacked for making comments against the Dravidian leaders etc. Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman is believed to have submitted a report to the party high command on the alliance issue.
Annamalai, who was on his way to New Delhi on Sunday, addressed reporters at Coimbatore airport after completing the second leg of his ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (My Land My People) padayatra. When a woman reporter asked Annamalai if he would continue in the BJP if he was no longer the state BJP president, Annamalai snapped at her, asking her to come and stand next to him, in front of the camera, so that people could see who had asked such a question. Without losing his cool, he asked the scribe “Come here sister, stand next to me. The eight crore people of Tamil Nadu should know who asked such an intelligent question. There is a norm for asking questions, Annamalai will not spare those who cross that norm”.
On his return from Delhi, at Chennai airport when presspersons wanted to know what transpired during his Delhi visit with senior leaders, he said “ you can write your own stories; nothing to say at present. Will brief at the appropriate time. Wait “.
In meanwhile, Annamalai visited private hospital in Chennai after he developed uneasiness. A medical bulletin from the Gleneagles Global Health City hospital dated October 4 said, “ Annamalai came to hospital with cough, breathing difficulty, cough throat pain , body ache and fatigue. He was evaluated by Pulmonologist thoroughly and high evaluation CT scan was performed in addition to other relevant investigations. The CT scan showed nodules in basal segment of left lung. The provisional diagnosis of the Doctor is lower respiratory tract infection of viral Etiology with broncho-spasm. He was given some medications to relieve the acute symptoms and sent back home with vitals stable. His vital are normal. He has given medication for five days. He has been asked to take rest and return to hospital for a review after five days. He has been prescribed bed rest for a period of two weeks for recovery”.
Meanwhile BJP sources say “Annamalai will resume third phase of padayatra from October 16 instead of October 6. There has been no change in the meeting of District presidents scheduled for October 5. The revised yatra details will be announced soon keeping in mind his health conditions. The third leg of his yatra was scheduled to start from October 6 from Mettupalayam”.
