BJP forgot ‘400+’ slogan after second phase, says Akhilesh
"When they saw the public sentiments in the first and the second phases, they came to know the reality,” observed the Samajwadi Party (SP) president.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was taken by surprise when the AIADMK announced it would leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) earlier this week, has sent its central leadership to repair relations with the erstwhile ally.
The union minister, a senior party leader, is expected to submit a report on the current situation, the concerns of the former ally, and the response from the party cadre, according to party functionaries. The party has started an exercise to take stock of the events that led to the allies’ breakup.
On Monday, AIADMK had announced a formal separation from NDA, accusing the BJP’s TN leadership of not showing respect to its past and present leaders. The party also announced that it will be contesting the 2024 election with its other allies. The AIADMK leadership in the past conveyed to the BJP their “discomfort” with its state unit president K Annamalai’s over his statements on the Dravidian party’s s leaders.
A top BJP leader claims that the central leadership of the party intervened to “salvage” the circumstance, anticipating that the two parties would put the past behind them and start over. “All state leaders have been instructed not to remark on the alliance since the central leadership is highly interested in preserving it. On condition of anonymity, the leader cited above stated that meetings “will take place over the course of the week and a decision will be announced.”
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Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a second leader claimed that even though the BJP state chief’s comments had been brought to the attention of the central leadership, the issue had been allowed to get worse.
“The central leadership has made it clear that they do not want the alliance to break. But the state president is young and inexperienced… Senior leaders in the state are not consulted, and it seems the president lacks guidance,” the second functionary said.
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