Annamalai calls EPS 'illiterate', AIADMK hits back

Chennai: Days before he goes on a three-month sabbatical, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has come down heavily on AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami by calling him “illiterate” and accusing him of emerging as the AIADMK Legislature Party leader in 2017 after emerging as the “highest bidder” at the meeting.

AIADMK hit back calling Annamalai “illiterate” and alleging that he was “blabbering” to remain as the chief of the Tamil Nadu unit of BJP following the expiry of his three-year tenure. The party also accused Annamalai of “behaving like a mentally retarded person” to continue clinging to his post and offered to get him admitted to a hospital for “check-up.”

Annamalai will take a three-month break from active politics starting this week to pursue a fellowship in the UK.

The acrimonious exchange of words between the former allies aren’t surprising as the two parties have been attacking each other for the past few months, especially after the Lok Sabha polls that saw the alliances led by both parties failing to win even a single seat. Palaniswami also got support from Annamalai’s colleague and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan who said leaders should exercise restraint while criticizing others, but the state BJP chief remained defiant.

The ties between AIADMK and BJP hit rock bottom during Annamalai’s leadership eventually leading to the Dravidian party snapping ties with the saffron outfit in 2023. The latest war of words began after Palaniswami termed Annamalai as a “liar” and accused him of getting to the top of the BJP leadership in Tamil Nadu through “recommendation.”

“I have to respond to this baseless statement as I won’t be in the state for the next three months. Repeating a lie 10 times will be construed as truth in Tamil Nadu. How did Palaniswami become CM at the Koovathur resort (after O Panneerselvam rebelled against V K Sasikala? Wasn’t he the highest bidder for the post?” Annamalai asked.

He further alleged that EPS emerged the “highest bidder” after he promised to “take care” of the supporting MLAs through tender and other methods. “Palaniswami continues to run the party like a tender allotment system. He has no right to criticize a person like me who was an honest police officer for 10 years (in Karnataka). An illiterate like him should stop talking about him,” Annamalai said.

The state BJP chief also claimed he “stopped respecting” Palaniswami after he heard that the latter refused to attend the nomination filing ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in 2019. “He asked why he should join a losing candidate while he files his nomination. Can Palaniswami deny this?” Annamalai asked, and alleged that Palaniswami got himself exonerated from a “murder case” by “falling at the feet” of a then AIADMK minister, who is now part of the DMK cabinet.

Hitting back strongly, AIADMK deputy general secretary K P Munusamy accused Annamalai of speaking in fear of losing his post following the BJP’s defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. “He talks like an illiterate and he has no right to criticize our leader who climbed the ladder to become the CM. He kept saying that the AIADMK will be decimated after the 2024 elections, but what happened to his party? Did the BJP win even one seat?” he asked.

Munusamy also claimed that the BJP was considering removing Annamalai from the post of state chief, while another senior leader R B Udhayakumar went to the extent of branding the former IPS officer as a “mentally unsound” person.

“He doesn’t have any other job than criticizing the AIADMK. He should realise the political fight in Tamil Nadu is between the AIADMK and DMK. If he continues to talk this way, we are ready to admit him to a hospital,” he said.