CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) finds himself in a political catch-22 as he tours the State to connect with voters. Caught between acting as a Devil’s advocate to a belligerent BJP — which has denied Tamil Nadu Rs 2,152 crore in Samagra Shiksha funds — and resisting anti-NEET policy moves of the State government, while sharpening his attack on the ruling DMK, EPS has ended up shooting himself in the foot.
His attempts to defend or cover up the BJP’s communal image and his questioning of the Union government’s statistics on Tamil Nadu’s economic growth under Chief Minister MK Stalin have created a political stir.
Chief Minister Stalin, speaking at the inauguration of a government hospital, was quick to respond. “What this Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin is doing in India is something Prime Minister Modi cannot achieve, and other Chief Ministers cannot achieve. That is the reason for his envy. Unable to tolerate this, Palaniswami is saying that the statistics given by his friend, the Union government, are wrong,” he said.
Netizens and political observers noted that EPS’s public challenge to the arithmetic of his ally BJP’s Union Ministry, was a move even the saffron party might find uncomfortable.
During his “Makkalai Kaapom; Tamilagathai Meetpom” campaign, the Leader of Opposition stated that the DMK was “deliberately trying to project the BJP as communal.” In doing so, he appeared to downplay the BJP’s right-wing or Hindutva leanings.
This, political analysts observed, neither served the AIADMK’s interests nor appealed to voters, but instead raised fresh doubts about the party’s secular credentials. The comments seemed aimed at softening the BJP’s image in Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian heartland, which has consistently rejected saffron politics for over a decade.
Equally notable was the AIADMK leader’s silence on the Congress’s allegations of electoral roll fraud by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to benefit Prime Minister Modi’s BJP. When he eventually addressed the issue, his remarks on bogus voter entries in RK Nagar bore striking parallels to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims — another misstep that his BJP ally would hardly welcome, especially while defending the ECI in Noida studio debates.
Even die-hard AIADMK loyalists have begun murmuring that the party leadership is losing direction by defending the BJP while taking on the DMK. Despite the serious tone of EPS’s rhetoric, it has inadvertently exposed flaws in crafting a clear, coherent strategy to counter the DMK and its vocal allies.