The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has fired two workers at its mouthpiece Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma after an article was published hinting at an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, The Hindu reported. The article was written by a freelancer, the report said.

On Monday, senior party leaders M Thambidurai and D Jayakumar clarified that the article was not true and a decision on an alliance with the BJP had not yet been made. “This is not the right time,” Jayakumar had said. “Only during election, alliances are decided. Only the party decides about that, not an individual columnist.”

The article had said that the AIADMK and BJP could work together “like a double-barreled gun”, and claimed that “no one can sever ties” between the two parties.

“Whatever be the number of protests and demonstrations, no one can sever the ties between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the BJP,” it had said, in a reference to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s protests on the Cauvery dispute. It had claimed that the protests by the Opposition party and its allies were only aimed at damaging the camaraderie between the parties ruling the state and the Centre.

The BJP has received massive flak for not implementing a Supreme Court order on constituting the Cauvery Management Board.