AIADMK senior leader M. Thambi Durai on Monday, June 12, 2023 said the AIADMK, led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami will lead the current alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections next year and there was no dispute regarding this. He was responding to questions on Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in Vellore where he had appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to elect more than 25 MPs of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
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“It has been the avowed position of the AIADMK right from Amma’s (AIADMK’s late supremo Jayalalithaa) time that ‘Narpadhum Namadhe’ (All 40 constituencies are ours),” he said. Sidestepping the arithmetic of 25 seats declared by Mr. Shah, Mr. Thambi Durai said, Edappadi K. Palaniswami will lead the alliance and the party will win all 40 seats, which include Puducherry.
Mr. Shah on Sunday, June 11, 2023, had expressed confidence that the BJP-led NDA would return to power in 2024 by winning more than 300 seats, and said that by winning more than 25 seats in Tamil Nadu with the blessings of the people here, the NDA could have more Ministers from the State. He said the people of T.N. must vote for NDA candidates as an expression of gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for installing the Sengol, a legacy of the Chola era, in the new Parliament.
Mr. Thambi Durai was speaking on the sidelines of private event in Krishnagiri.