The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is miffed with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for its pledge to revoke the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) in its populist manifesto. The CAA has always been a topic of contention in Tamil Nadu. This time, the CAA is a topic that has manifested in the poll manifestos of the state’s ruling AIADMK and its opposition DMK. Both parties have promised to work for its revocation. While the DMK has always been vocal about its dissent towards the CAA, AIADMK’s on the fence approach has left its alliance partner baffled.
The AIADMK’s announcement that it would revoke the CAA if elected to power has not gone down well with the BJP, who has been firm in its approach that the CAA is here to stay. BJP general secretary CT Ravi expressed the party’s annoyance with the AIADMK announcement of its manifesto saying, “DMK owner MK Stalin says that his party will continue to fight against the CAA. Why is Stalin opposing a law that would provide Citizenship to oppressed Hindus, Sikhs and Christians from Pakistan and other nations? Stalin or anyone else can oppose it, the CAA will not be scrapped.” Political analysts say that Ravi’s choice of words, aimed at both Stalin and the party is BJP’s way of telling the AIADMK to get their act together and not make promises they cant keep.
Meanwhile, AIADMK has announced fielding two women candidates for the Assembly elections in Kerala. B Naseema will contest from Mannarcad while RM Dhanalakshmi is the candidate for Devikulam constituency, said Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, in a joint statement.
AIADMK State president Shobakumar on February 28 had said there was an alliance with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He announced then that the AIADMK would field candidates in Idukki, Palakkad and other districts. In the 2016 Assembly election, AIADMK candidate RM Dhanalakshmi reached third position in the Devikulam constituency and got 11,613 votes. BJP candidate N Chandran got 9,592 votes. Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI(M)) leader S Rajendran won the election with a margin of 49,510 votes, while UDF candidate AK Mani got 43,728 votes.
Elections will be held for 140 seats in Kerala on April 6, 2021 where the ruling CPI(M), led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is seeking a continuous term by opposing the trend of a regime change once in five years while opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and (BJP) are seeking to dethrone the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
