The faction-ridden party, which always opposed the Congress, has pledged the support to follow the footsteps of late Jayalalitha and MG Ramachandran
The AIADMK has buried its differences to pledge its support to NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. The faction-ridden party, which always opposed the Congress, has pledged the support to follow the footsteps of late Jayalalitha and MG Ramachandran.
The NDA, which is sitting pretty with about 48.5 per cent votes in the electoral college, still requires the support of the regional parties like AIADMK, YSR Congress, Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and Naveen Patnaik led Biju Janta Dal, who together have 12 per cent. Apart from these, it has the support of the two natural allies Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has already extended his support.
In the BJP camp there were some apprehensions about the support of the AIADMK because of the jailed VK Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran, who is trying to bring down the EK Palaniswami government.
Initially, when Dinakaran wanted to meet PM Modi to assure him of the united support of the AIADMK, he was not granted the time by the PMO. However, with the intervention of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, Dinakaran met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkiah Naidu and conveyed his party's decision to support the NDA candidate, then only he was granted time by the Prime Minister.
The ruling AIADMK has 134 legislators and 49 MPs (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha). Chief Minister Palaniaswami is trying to save his government which has been threatened by Dinakaran. But Dinakaran on the advice of the MLAs supporting him went to Delhi and met the Prime Minister to assure him of the united support of the AIADMK.
The most heartening part is that for a bigger cause, the party has decided to shed its petty differences.
The state government, which a few days ago was critical of the Union government on the issue of ban on cattle trade issued a statement, saying, "What is wrong in supporting the BJP for the presidential election. It was the BJP that fielded APJ Abdul Kalam for President. The BJP is not a party of untouchables and we will outright support the BJP candidate."
This was a very timely statement as the state government needs the support of the Centre for many of its programmes and after the GST it will need financial help too. The party's senior leadership has been insisting on a ceasefire to resurrect the lost image of the party in the eyes of the people, but former chief minister Paneerselvam, who heads one of the factions has ruled out any merger and now there are three factions within the AIADMK. But he too has agreed on supporting the NDA's candidate.
Leaders of various factions have great faith in Modi and he has been sending emissaries to work out a formula for unity in AIADMK. It is likely that after presidential election, Modi may intervene indirectly to unite the party particularly on issue of leadership as AIADMK will be very crucial for NDA in next Lok Sabha polls.
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