Bolstering NDA key point in Jay Panda-EPS meet

CHENNAI: In an effort to cement ties between NDA’s leading partners in the state and to strategise for polls, BJP vice president and election incharge of Tamil Nadu Baijayant Panda alias Jay Panda held discussions with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami at his Chennai residence.

The newly appointed BJP’s election co-in-charge for the state, Union Minister for State Murlidhar Mohol, and BJP state unit president Nainar Nagenthran, accompanied Jay Panda during the visit meant to further strengthen the alliance and discuss the assembly election strategy.

AIADMK sources here said during the one-hour meeting, the leaders of both parties also discussed strengthening the alliance by inviting other like-minded political outfits to face the formidable DMK in the 2026 Assembly polls. Sources from the AIADMK further said that the meeting discussed whether to invite PMK and DMDK into the NDA alliance.

The BJP leaders are said to have urged the AIADMK to prepare a detailed plan to identify winning constituencies and which alliance party should contest in those segments. However, the meeting did not discuss the ousted AIADMK leaders’ request to reinstate them, insiders privy to the development said.

The meeting was conducted after Jay Panda held a meeting of the BJP state office bearers and the party’s core Committee members at Kamalalayam, the BJP state headquarters, as part of an exercise to further strengthen the organisation in the state.

“Our karyakartas are our greatest strength, the driving force behind the party’s growth and outreach. Received a warm welcome (from BJP functionaries) on my first visit to the state as election in-charge, upon arrival at Chennai (on October 6) for organisational meetings,” Panda, also an MP from Odisha, said in a post on ‘X’.

The back-to-back meetings between BJP and AIADMK leaders assume significance in the backdrop of turbulence in the NDA, as former member TTV Dhinakaran is training his guns on the former CM.