Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami on Thursday assured Muslim voters in the state that they need not worry about the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Assembly elections, The News Minute reported.

Palaniswami made the remark while addressing Jamaat leaders in Tiruppur district. “An alliance is different and ideology is different,” he was quoted as saying by the website. “Alliance can change every time. Alliances are created for politics. Every party has an ideology and they will never let it go. Nobody has to fear that they will be affected because of our alliance.”

The Tamil Nadu chief minister told members of the Muslim community that the AIADMK needed their support to stay in power.

Palaniswami also said that there had been no communal clashes in Tamil Nadu in the last four years, The Hindu reported. “Any minor [communal] issues are dealt with immediately,” he added.

Also read: Tamil Nadu elections: In message to BJP, AIADMK rules out power-sharing, says Palaniswami will be CM

Unidentified AIADMK leaders told The News Minute that there were concerns about voters from the minority community feeling alienated because of the party’s alliance with the pro-Hindutva BJP.

Last month too, Palaniswami had sought to allay the concerns of Muslim voters. He had assured them that the AIADMK was “friendly with every community”.

The AIADMK and BJP had in November confirmed that their alliance will continue for the Assembly elections, scheduled to take place in 2021. However in December, the AIADMK rejected any possibility of a power-sharing agreement with its ally and clearly said that Palaniswami will be its candidate for the chief minister’s post.