The participation of AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami in a recent meeting of NDA leaders in New Delhi has laid to rest speculation that the Dravidian outfit and the BJP may part ways.
It was not Mr. Palaniswami’s presence as such, but the importance given to him by the BJP at the meeting that caught the attention of many, especially his detractors. He was one of the few to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the venue. He sat next to Mr. Modi. He seconded a resolution that the NDA would face the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under Mr. Modi’s leadership. The BJP’s eagerness to keep Mr. Palaniswami in good humour was evident from the fact that the AIADMK’s deposed coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, and the AMMK general secretary, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, both considered potential allies of the BJP, did not receive an invite to the meeting, which was attended by representatives of many smaller parties. Their absence was especially conspicuous given that the BJP had been inviting both of them together to many events until recently.
The event has also dispelled the notion that the AIADMK will chart its own course for next year’s election. After attending the NDA meeting, Mr. Palaniswami was quick to assert that his party will lead the alliance with the BJP in Tamil Nadu.
The appointment of K. Annamalai as president of the State BJP two years ago changed the relationship between the two parties to some extent. The police officer-turned-politician has been aggressively projecting the BJP as a key and independent player in Tamil Nadu politics. In March, Mr. Annamalai told colleagues at an internal meeting that he would prefer to resign rather than be in an alliance with the AIADMK. About a month ago, at a meeting of its district secretaries, the AIADMK described the BJP State chief as “politically inexperienced and immature” for his reported comments about Jayalalithaa’s conviction.
But all this is now history. The BJP national leadership has decided that a pre-poll alliance with the AIADMK is better than fighting a lone battle. The party’s track record in the Lok Sabha polls between 1989 and 2019 shows that an electoral alliance with the AIADMK in 1998 and the DMK in 1999 proved beneficial. The party bagged three seats in 1998 and four seats the next year. In 2014, a multi-cornered contest, the BJP, which was a constituent of the non-AIADMK and non-DMK formation, won in Kanniyakumari where it has a substantial base. On all other occasions, its performance has been miserable. In 2021, after a gap of 20 years, four BJP nominees were elected to the State Assembly thanks to the party’s alliance with the AIADMK.
That the BJP has not been able to make great inroads into Tamil Nadu is, perhaps, viewed by its national leadership as a challenge.
In the past few years, it is clear that Mr. Modi has been focused on turning this around. He has frequently referred to classical works such as the Thirukkural and Purananuru or to icons such as Subramania Bharati in his speeches. He chose Mamallapuram as the venue for his “informal summit” with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2019. The Indian government organised the Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi, Mr. Modi’s parliamentary constituency, in November 2022, while the BJP-led Gujarat government organised the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam in April 2023. Mr. Modi installed the sengol, a sceptre from Tamil Nadu, in the new Parliament building in May. Addressing a meeting in Vellore in June, Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged the people of Tamil Nadu to elect over 25 MPs of the NDA to the Lok Sabha in 2024 as a “mark of gratitude” to Mr. Modi for having installed the sengol.
Of late, the buzz in political circles is that Mr. Modi may even contest from the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency. It is no coincidence that Mr. Annamalai is commencing his 120-day State-wide march, ‘En Mann, En Makkal (My land, My people)‘, from Rameswaram, which is part of Ramanathapuram district, on July 28. Mr. Shah is expected to inaugurate the event.
After all this effort, the BJP can ill-afford to fare poorly. It is banking on the AIADMK to realise its objective, regardless of the spat between the leaders of the two parties at the State level and the churning within the AIADMK in recent times.
