AIADMK not in alliance with BJP: Tamil Nadu CM

Chennai, Mar 21 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has told the state's Assembly that his party, the AIADMK, isn't in partnership with the BJP and isn't giving it bolster in any blanket manner.

Palaniswami's clarification came despite allegations by opposition parties that the AIADMK has been delicate with the BJP-drove government Center over the Supreme Court-commanded made of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).

However, the clarification also comes against the setting of the proposed no-certainty movement against the NDA government that has made progress since the TDP quit the collusion over exceptional status to Andhra Pradesh. It needs to be noticed that the NDA is easily in control, with or without the help of the AIADMK.

"There is no alliance with, or support being extended to the BJP," Palaniswami told the Assembly as part of the Budget Session. The House had on March 15 passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), which would be a joint system to deal with the division of the waters of the Cauvery River including the Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Central governments.

The accusation that the AIADMK is going soft on the BJP also runs as an inseparable unit with the observation that the gathering has been cosying up as far back as the demise of its long-term supremo J Jayalalithaa in 2016.

The AIADMK's MPs have been holding protests in the Parliament complex demanding the constitution of the CMB. The Supreme Court had on February 16 ordered the Center to set up the CMB inside a month and a half. It had also reduced the amount of water awarded to Tamil Nadu, and had been informed in 2013.