EPS meets Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Chennai
The meeting took place at the memorial of TMC founder G K Moopanar in Teynampet, where both leaders had gathered to pay tributes. According to leaders present, Palaniswami and Nirmala Sitharaman spoke for a while.
EPS meets Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Chennai
CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday met Union Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman in the city, in what is being seen as a key political engagement between the alliance partners.
The meeting took place at the memorial of TMC founder G K Moopanar in Teynampet, where both leaders had gathered to pay tributes. According to leaders present, Palaniswami and Nirmala Sitharaman spoke for a while. While the conversation remained private, party sources indicated that the discussion centred on alliance coordination and the evolving political scenario in Tamil Nadu.
Earlier in the day, Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a strategy meeting with the Tamil Nadu BJP leaders at a private hotel in Guindy. State president Nainar Nagenthran, national in-charge Arvind Menon, and co-in-charge Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy participated, along with senior leaders H Raja, K T Raghavan and Kushboo Sundar. Former state presidents Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, L Murugan and K Annamalai did not attend.
“The Finance Minister reviewed the party’s outreach programmes through booth committees and zonal conferences. She asked us to intensify efforts to take the BJP’s message and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives to the people,” sources said.
According to a senior BJP functionary, the Finance Minister was also updated on the US’s tax policy and the impact, political activities of actor Vijay and the strategies of the DMK-led alliance. “She underlined the need to strengthen coordination with the AIADMK while also deepening the BJP’s grassroots presence in the State,” the leader added.
Sitharaman also visited the residence of former Nagaland Governor La Ganesan in T. Nagar and paid floral tributes to his portrait, conveying her condolences to the family. She later went to the memorials of Moopanar and former Chief Minister K Kamaraj to pay her respects. At the Moopanar memorial, leaders including GK Vasan, Nainar Nagenthran, H Raja and K Annamalai were present.
