AIADMK will contest LS polls without a PM candidate, says EPS

AIADMK General Secretary Palaniswami promises to protect minorities' interests in 2024 Lok Sabha election.

AIADMK general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, on Sunday said his party would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election without projecting any Prime Ministerial candidate “like many other political parties” in the country.

Claiming that along with SDPI many other parties would join the AIADMK fold, he appealed to the minorities to support the AIADMK front to win the Lok Sabha election in all the 40 seats in in Tamil Nadu and Pudhucherry.

“Whenever the minorities were affected not only in Tamil Nadu, but anywhere in the country, we will raise our voice in the Parliament,” he said.

Reiterating that the AIADMK would not align with Bharatiya Janata Party now and also for the 2026 Assembly polls, at the “Vellattum Mathasarbinmai” (Let Secularism win) conference organised by the Social Democratic Party of India in Madurai, Mr. Palaniswami said his party remained a shield protecting the interests of the minorities. Though the AIADMK was in alliance with the BJP, it never compromised with its ideologies. “Alliance is different and (party) ideology is different. We always gave priority to our ideology,” he said.

In the 30 years of rule of the AIADMK, the minorities were protected and no room was given for casteist and communal clashes. “We controlled them with iron hand,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami said the AIADMK had earlier aligned with the BJP due to the then prevailing situation and in the interest of development of the State.

However, he was quick to add that even then, the AIADMK Government gave permission for the minorities to stage protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.