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Is BJP trying to overshadow its ally in TN?
Chennai: Is the BJP overshadowing the AIADMK as the main player in the opposition in Tamil Nadu? That’s what BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran, who was earlier with the AIADMK, said openly a few days ago
Chennai: Is the BJP overshadowing the AIADMK as the main player in the opposition in Tamil Nadu? That’s what BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran, who was earlier with the AIADMK, said openly a few days ago. And state BJP chief K Annamalai rang up the dual leadership of the AIADMK, O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami, to salvage the situation.
Subsequently, their alliance is on a temporary break for the upcoming local body elections to what they say keep the best interests of their parties. While Annamalai said the alliance will continue for the 2024 parliamentary elections in India, the AIADMK was non-committal on the future, but both sides agreed that they are on good terms. For several AIADMK leaders, particularly the old guard, this is a relief having come together only as an alliance of convenience following J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016.
The BJP’s aim has always been to piggyback on the Dravidian party to eventually become the principal opposition to the DMK, with their eyes set on ruling Tamil Nadu some day in the future. So there is some truth to the BJP being more visible and aggressive and hogging the limelight over the suicide case of the 17-year-old girl. BJP leaders in the state say that since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014 and ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections when they formed the NDA alliance led by the AIADMK, their ally has been the ruling Tamil Nadu. “We couldn’t voice out much. Now that the DMK is in power, we are hitting the streets for every issue,” said a senior BJP leader not wishing to be identified. The state’s BJP unit feels that after Annamalai took over last year, there is more thrust on party’s activities. “Like how people relate a party with an individual in Tamil Nadu, they have begun doing so with Annamalai in Tamil Nadu. This is the first time such a thing is happening for the BJP in the state. It’s an ideological war.”
The AIADMK has got some setback with the DMK government booking six of their ex-ministers on corruption charges and beginning to crack down on their most powerful man, Palaniswami, in the Kodanad heist cum murder case. The party is far from the powerhouse it was compared to the times of their late leaders Jayalalithaa and M G Ramachandran (MGR). But AIADMK leaders say now that they have got their house in order, solving infighting, keeping V K Sasikala at bay and steering away from the BJP, their 1.5-crore strong cadre base will continue to remain the only alternative to the DMK. “We are not quiet,” asserts a former AIADMK minister. “We have been in politics for 50 years. We are the big snake. We know how to handle every situation. We were written off by critics. We didn’t succumb to pressure that portrayed Sasikala as playing an important role. We stayed united and now Sasikala is isolated.”
The leader says that more members from the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a breakaway faction of the AIADMK floated by Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran, are returning to the parent party. “In the coming days, you will see the strength of the AIADMK. All the cases that DMK is foisting on us will only create public sympathy. It’s political vengeance. If we had behaved like the DMK, half their current ministers would have been in jail when we were in power.”
On the allies contesting separately, the AIADMK leader says that it is the BJP which is dependent on them. The BJP agrees with his consensus. “We would have won more seats if we contested together. But the BJP has nothing to lose. We have to be in a position where we have to honour what our cadre wants,” the BJP leader quoted above said. The AIADMK leader is among those who believe that the BJP cost them minority votes in assembly elections held last year. “Rahul Gandhi is right. Tamil Nadu is totally different. BJP’s politics won’t work here unless they support NEET and two-language policy,” the AIADMK leader said. “The BJP has to use the same line as that of Dravidian parties if they want to touch any base here.”
Political experts say that BJP’s recent boisterous image is only on social media which leads to news value. “On the ground there is no way that the BJP is overshadowing the AIADMK,” says political commentator Raveendran Duraisamy. “It is a factor that the AIADMK is quieter because of the cases that DMK is building up on them and they are dependent on the BJP-led Central government to offer them some protection on this issue. But look at AIADMK’s strong cadre. They are a hard nut to crack. So, the BJP wouldn’t want the AIADMK to be happy that they are contesting separately. BJP will want to prove that they are a force better than the PMK in the AIADMK’s alliance.” In the rural body elections held last October in nine newly carved districts, the PMK which is part of the NDA alliance decided to contest alone. The DMK swept the rural body elections. Elections to local body polls will be held after a decade in Tamil Nadu on February 19.
