AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday called on Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi, in their first meeting since Shah announced the AIADMK’s return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in April during an event in Chennai.
The development came on a day when the AIADMK’s ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a key meeting in Chennai as part of its preparations for the Tamil Nadu assembly polls slated for next year.
EPS, as the AIADMK general secretary is popularly referred, was accompanied by party’s deputy general secretary KP Munusamy, headquarters secretary SP Velumani during the meeting with Shah.
Though the details of the meeting were not immediately known, AIADMK functionaries indicated that EPS wanted to convey that the party was not willing to take back expelled leaders O Panneerselvam (OPS), TTV Dhinakaran, VK Sasikala, and KA Sengottaiyan.
“There is a section of leaders in the AIADMK who are not keen on inducting the expelled leaders. There was an attempt to include more factions and leaders in the NDA, but it seems the AIADMK is not keen on doing so,” a party functionary said, declining to be named.
The leader added that the BJP has conveyed that it will follow the AIADMK’s lead on forging alliances and other election issues. “The state chief Nainar Nagendran has already said Palaniswami’s decisions will be honoured,” the leader said.
Earlier in the day, the AIADMK leaders called on the newly elected Vice President CP Radhakrishnan in the national capital and congratulated him on his victory. “I congratulated him for his win and wished him success in his service to the people as Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” EPS said in a post on X, sharing a photo of the meeting. Radhakrishnan’s elevation as Vice President was a matter of great pride for Tamil Nadu, he added.