Chennai, June 27 (UNI) There is a sense of unease in the principal opposition AIADMK after Union Home Minister and saffron strategist Amit Shah skipped mentioning AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) as the chief ministerial face of the alliance and reiterating yet again that it would be a coalition government in the Dravidian heartland.

This is the second time that Shah made it clear that it would be an NDA government in which the BJP too will share power. He had made a similar statement while addressing the party’s core group meeting in Madurai on June 8, which caused tremors in the AIADMK, which has repeatedly ruled out the idea of a coalition government as unsuitable for Tamil Nadu.

In an interview to a Tamil daily, Shah not only asserted that it would be a coalition government of the NDA with the participation of the BJP, but skipped the name of EPS as the chief ministerial face of the alliance. “The NDA will certainly form the government, and the BJP will be part of it,” said Shah. “We will contest the election under the leadership of the AIADMK. The Chief Minister will be from the AIADMK,” he said.

This is a major departure from his earlier statement made when the AIADMK made its re-entry into the NDA. Then, flanked by EPS, Shah had said that the NDA would fight the polls under the leadership of EPS. It is an indication of the BJP having a ‘Plan B’ instead of putting all the eggs on EPS, say analysts.

Denying that the BJP is shouldering the responsibility of uniting those leaders who have been expelled from the AIADMK like former Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and others, Shah said: “I am not uniting anyone. It is related to their party and they have to make decisions. But, I believe, the NDA comprising the AIADMK and the BJP, is very strong."

Shah also left the question of actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) joining the NDA. “There is still enough time for the election. Everything will be clear at the right time,” was his cryptic response.

The TVK has declared the BJP as its ideological foe while identifying the DMK as its political enemy. However, the Union government has provided ‘Y’ scale security cover to the actor, giving rise to speculation of the two parties having an understanding.

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