The second phase of Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai’s padayatra, 'En Man En Makkal', which was scheduled for Thursday (October 6), has been postponed to October 16, due to his ill health.
“The foot march was slated to start on October 6 but is now being postponed to October 16,” Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP tweeted.
A medical bulletin shared by the state unit of the party, from Gleneagles Global Health City in Chennai, said Annamalai complained of cough, breathing difficulty, throat pain, body ache and fatigue. “He was evaluated by a pulmonologist thoroughly. The provisional diagnosis of the doctor is Lower Respiratory Tract infection of viral aetiology with bronchospasm,” according to the hospital statement.
Annamalai has been advised two weeks of bed rest by the doctors.
Meanwhile, the meeting of district presidents and party office bearers will take place on Thursday as scheduled. The meeting, which is expected to discuss the exit of AIADMK from the NDA, was actually scheduled for Tuesday and later postponed to Thursday as Annamalai was in Delhi.
Annamalai had said his Delhi trip was to brief the central leadership on the progress of his yatra. However, according to highly placed sources in the BJP, he was summoned to the national capital by the party top brass. He had met party chief J.P. Nadda and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman but could not meet Home Minister Amit Shah. Annamalai is said to have briefed Sitharaman on the political situation in the state. Sources say the high command is not happy with the developments in Tamil Nadu and is of the opinion that Annamalai’s comments are the only reason for the break up in the alliance.
However, the BJP's top leadership, which did not expect AIADMK’s exit from the NDA, is yet to decide on the next course of action. Sources say the AIADMK seniors have said they can reconsider the alliance only if Annamalai is replaced as the BJP chief in Tamil Nadu. But on Tuesday, during a press conference, while reiterating that any patch-up in the alliance is not possible, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said his party never demanded that Annamalai should be replaced. “It was our cadres’ decision to quit the NDA. There was no discussion on Lok Sabha seat sharing or talks about replacing Annamalai,” Palaniswami said.
