The AIADMK led the NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu, only to face defeat as the DMK-led Congress walked away with 38 of the 39 seats. Interestingly, the AIADMK didn’t make it to PM Modi’s Cabinet either.
Chennai: AIADMK happens to the only NDA ally that has not managed to find a place in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. This, despite rumours that AIADMK’s lone winner, OP Ravindranath Kumar, son of deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam would bag a portfolio.
Reports also suggest that Ravindranath Kumar, had said that he was hopeful of getting a call from the Prime Minister’s office. Until Wednesday, two candidates from the AIADMK were awaiting a portfolio in the new BJP government.
While Panneerselvam was pushing for his son, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami was batting for his loyalist and senior Rajya Sabha member R Vaithilingam to get a cabinet berth.
AIADMK minister Kadambur Raju on Wednesday had told reporters that there was a possibility of the party getting a berth as the BJP had said all its coalition partners would also be accommodated.
Raju said: “There is a chance for it (AIADMK getting a berth in the Cabinet) since they (BJP) had said coalition partners will be accommodated (in the Council of Ministers).”
BJP sources had told PTI as well that it has been conveyed to the party’s top brass that cadres wished to see at least “one BJP leader from Tamil Nadu,” in the Union Cabinet.
“Nothing is in our hands. It is the Prime Minister who decides on who will be in the Cabinet,” a senior state BJP leader said. This is also the first time that an elected MP from Tamil Nadu won’t be a part of the central government.
BJP’s Pon Radhakrishnan had won from the Kanyakumari constituency in 2014 and held the post of minister of state for finance and shipping.
The DMK had played a role at the Centre in 1999, 2004 and 2009 and the AIADMK had received Cabinet berths in 1998 during the alliance with Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government.
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