Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday said that the AIADMK will lead the alliance in the 2021 Assembly Elections.The Chief Minister’s comment comes a few days after Vice President of Tamil Nadu BJP unit VP Duraiswamy said that BJP will lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu and the fight will be between BJP and DMK.
On Friday, the Chief Minister carried out field visits to monitor the preparedness for coronavirus and development works in various districts. Addressing the press in Thanjavur, Palaniswami, who is also the join coordinator of the AIADMK, said, “Just like how it was during MGR’s (former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MG Ramachandran) period and puratchi thalaivi Amma’s (former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) period, Lok Sabha or Assembly election AIADMK has always led the alliance.”
“The AIADMK will continue in the same manner. Even in the last Lok Sabha Election, the alliance was under the leadership of AIADMK. Hence,no matter with whom we tie up with, AIADMK will lead the alliance,” the Chief Minister said.
EPS also said that the NEET examination should be cancelled and he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan regarding the same. The Chief Minister said, “I have already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan demanding the Centre to cancel NEET. The Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Vijayabaskar has also written to the Union Health Minister demanding to cancel NEET. So the NEET examination should be cancelled.”
Cracks have emerged between allies BJP and the AIADMK in recent weeks, with the ban on public celebration of Vinayaka Chaturthi emerging as the latest thorn in the alliance.
On August 12, BJP Tamil Nadu Vice President VP Duraisamy said, earlier the fight was between AIADMK and DMK but now as Ku Ka Selvam who was with DMK joined BJP, the battle is now between BJP vs DMK.