BJP will expand its footprint in Tamil Nadu, contest local polls: Pon Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI: Buoyed by its spectacular win in the northern States, the BJP here hopes to aggressively expand its footprint in Tamil Nadu and is determined to test the waters in the local bodies elections by contesting it alone. Politically, the party feels the situation is conducive for it to manoeuvre and reach its goal of capturing power. “In the absence of a strong AIADMK leadership and with the DMK not much of a threat, nothing can prevent the BJP from occupying the space,” a senior leader in the party said and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s good governance and pro-people initiatives would increase the party’s prospects at the hustings.

But, given its past track record, this would turn out to be a Herculean task for the party. Compared to the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the past, the BJP has been faring better in the civic bodies polls and probably its confidence of facing the polls alone stems from this status. “Time now is propitious for the BJP to come to power in Tamil Nadu. We will contest the local bodies elections alone,” declared Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan. The Minister who attended the party’s executive meeting in Suchindram in Kanyakumari district and later in Madurai on Saturday, accused the opposition DMK of attempting to destroy AIADMK.

“It did not succeed in its earlier attempt when MGR was at the helm of affairs in the AIADMK. But now both the Dravidian parties are vanishing. Now the era of BJP is all set to begin,” he added. According to an insider, the DMK wanted to rake the controversy over the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavation at Keezhadi to gain mileage but the Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma took the wind out the DMK sails when he visited Sivaganga on Friday. “It is not a matter of individuals. It is a matter of institution. I am the Minister today and I may not be the Minister tomorrow. But that does not mean that government or Ministry work will stop,” he had said apparently referring to DMK working president M. K. Stalin who earlier this year wrote to Mr. Mahesh Sharma seeking his intervention to resume excavation at Keezhadi.