Chennai: The BJP’s dream of forming a grand alliance in the State to counter the popularity of the coalitions led by the DMK and AIADMK might not become a reality as just four political leaders turned up to meet the party’s national president J P Nadda and another one sending his representative, forcing him to push the tete-e-tete with allies behind the public meeting at Vallalar Nagar on Sunday.
Speaking at the public meeting organized as part of the ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra of BJP State President K Annamalai at Vallalar Nagar in north Chennai, Nadda said accused the DMK government of not having a conscience or democratic values and said that when he drove to the venue shops were closed reminding him of the Emergency that was declared by the Congress in the past.
By travelling about a kilometer onboard the van used for the yatra to reach the meeting venue, along with Annamalai, the national leader actually went against the police ban on the yatra to be taken though the constituencies in Chennai. Police had given permission only for the public meeting.
At the meeting Nadda said that Annamalai would complete his yatra through all the 234 constituencies and alleged that the DMK government was ruining the State, which was actually in the heart of BJP leaders, he cited the present Union Government honouring noted agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan with a Bharat Ratna as a recognition to the State.
He also said that the placing of the ‘Sengol’ (made by the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam as a gift for Jawaharlal Nehru during Independence) in Parliament was in remembrance of Tamil Nadu’s contribution to the nation.
Describing Tamil Nadu as the favourite State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the State had a rich tradition and culture and recalled Modi speaking highly of it wherever he went.
Dressed in typical Tamil traditional attire of dhoti and white shirt, Nadda, in his speech, tried to drive home the point that the BJP was very much concerned about the welfare of the State and called for the defeat of the DMK in the coming elections.
The time had come for the DMK to go, he said, adding that the days of people dreading rains in Chennai should come to an end.
Earlier, Annamalai, in his speech lashed out at the three members of Parliament representing the constituencies in Chennai of not doing anything to the people. He also said that they embodied the DMK’s dynastic tradition by pointing out that all three representatives were progenies of veteran DMK leaders.
Apart from O Panneerselvam of the breakaway AIADMK group, G K Vasan of the Tamil Maanila Congress, A C Shanmugham of New Justice Party and T R Pachamuthu of India Jananayaka Katchi were the leaders who confirmed their alliance with the BJP for the coming Lok Sabha polls. T T V Dinakaran had sent his representative on behalf of the AMMK to the meeting with Nadda at a hotel in Guindy.
At least two other erstwhile partners of the NDA, the PMK of S Ramadoss and DMDK, founded by the late Vijayakanth, did not evince much interest in meeting Nadda.
