Chennai: Days after he said he was acting on his own, expelled AIADMK leader KA Sengattayan said he had made efforts to “unify” the AIADMK following the BJP’s request.Addressing reporters in Gobichettipalayam on Friday, Sengattayan said that when the BJP came to him with a request, he asked the BJP to make the AIADMK the ruling party in 2026. In turn, he promised to talk to the party high command and fulfill the BJP’s demand in the 2029 elections.He said the low-key meeting of AIADMK leaders, including Edappadi K Palaniswami and himself, to request the appointment of expelled leaders last year was a result of the BJP’s drive for unification. Sengattayan, however, refrained from revealing the identity of the BJP leaders involved.The former minister’s statement left the BJP in a quandary as the party maintained that it had not interfered in the AIADMK’s internal affairs. BJP state president Nainar Nagentran said he suspected that the “hand” of the DMK was behind Sengottaiyan’s recent actions. Addressing reporters in Tirupur on Friday, he said the timing of Sengottaiyan’s statement was questionable. Nagentran said he was not aware of any such reports from the BJP.Meanwhile, expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah want a united AIADMK. “But the personal whims and caprices of one man became the stumbling block.” At the press conference, Sengotthayan also blamed the EPS for sacking 13 of his supporters, including former Tirupur MP Satyabamu. He said it was because he suggested the EPS name for the post of CM after the death of J Jayalalithaa. “Unlike OPS, whom Jayalalithaa made Chief Minister, EPS became CM through the backdoor,” he said.
