“If the party asks me…”: Tamil Nadu BJP chief on contesting 2024 elections

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai said he would abide by any decision of the party.

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai on Friday dismissed speculations about him contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, but said he would abide by any decision of the party.

The former IPS officer said that he has no personal bias or any likes and dislikes in the BJP. “Whatever the party tells me, I have to follow it, it is the nature of the party. Today the party has asked me to complete the state level yatra (En Manna En Makkal) and we have completed it,” he told reporters here. have taken.”

He said the BJP has “given me some responsibility” to ensure the party’s growth in the state and he is doing so.

Making an indirect reference to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he said, ‘If tomorrow morning the party asks me to do this, I will do that.’ “I am not going to react on speculations. Whatever decision our senior national leadership takes, my duty is to follow it and ensure that it is implemented on the ground,” the state BJP chief said.

Responding to a question on Udhayanidhi’s sharp criticism of the BJP, hinting that it could hardly make any impact in the elections, Mr Annamalai said the state minister is a “failed actor”, referring to the DMK leader’s cinema career. We do.

Mr Udhayanidhi was “in politics with the name of his grandfather (late M Karunanidhi) and father (MK Stalin)… What social service has he done… Did he help the poor?” Sri Annamalai asked.

On Tamil Nadu BJP wishing Stalin on his birthday in ‘Chinese’ language, Mr Annamalai said he did not find anything objectionable in it.

“On behalf of @BJPTNmediacell, wishing our Honorable Chief Minister Thiru @MKestalinAvargal a happy birthday in his favorite language! May he live a long and healthy life!” In this, some messages were written in Chinese language along with the picture of BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JP Nadda and Annamalai.

This appeared to be a clear dig at the recent controversy over the ‘China flag’ in the DMK advertisement released in connection with the ISRO launch complex being built in the state.

Asked about this, Mr Annamalai said DMK leader and MP “Kanimozhi said that China is not an enemy country. So, what is wrong in wishing our Chief Minister in Chinese. People in our IT wing have done the same. I did not find anything objectionable,” Mr. Annamalai said.

At a rally in Tirunelveli on Wednesday, PM Modi strongly criticized the DMK for being ‘ignorant’ of the country’s achievements in the space sector, following a controversy following a minister of state’s newspaper advertisement on spaceflight, about which the BJP had claimed. ‘Chinese flag’.

The Tamil Nadu BJP had then alleged that in a daily advertisement the DMK had used the ‘Chinese flag’ and ‘Chinese language’ to take credit for bringing the new ISRO complex at Kulasekarapattinam, near Thoothukudi, in the state.

DMK leader and Fisheries Minister Anita R Radhakrishnan, who released the advertisement on Thursday, had said it was a mistake by the designer.

The minister, who had given the advertisement on behalf of his party, insisted that it was only a mistake and he (DMK) had no other intention.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)