Chennai: Is it the electoral alliance or 'mascot' that could help the saffron party gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu ? It is an ambition that the BJP has been nurturing for decades and which has become the object of DMK's ridicule.
The BJP, which has been experimenting with alliances since 1998 in the state, appears to be in a perpetual mood of forging electoral ties, despite its attempts all these years had only worked against its advantage. If it was not the AIADMK (in 1998) or the DMK (1999), the party found Vijayakanth's DMDK indispensable in facing the elections and it forged a six-party alliance in 2014 Lok Sabha election. While it formed an alliance with caste groups in 2011 Assembly election, it had to fight the 2016 Assembly election in the company of Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi.
Its alliance dynamics did not work in its favour nor the poll results. Now the latest factor holding the BJP in sway is 'superstar' Rajinikanth. As if echoing the views expressed by the state leaders, the party's national chief Amit Shah, himself admitted on Sunday that the actor is welcome to join the BJP.
Perhaps, the BJP sees an opportunity to “grow.” Every electoral alliance it makes, it is the BJP that is at disadvantage. The party is yet to work in the spirit of “grow alone, go alone,” says a senior leader in the party. “It is impossible for the party to win in election without alliance because both the Dravidian majors have been wielding money and muscle power,” he added. Also, the party should mould leaders at regional level and also take the Narendra Modi government's welfare schemes to the people so as to make inroads into minds of voters.
Another senior contended that the “party may not have made its choice between former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam or the faction headed by CM Edappadi K. Palanisami, at this juncture, but see the developments that would unfold….BJP will gain the upper hand.”
As far as the Union minister of state for road transport, highways and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan is concerned, the BJP is making all efforts to form an alternative front. “People of Tamil Nadu are searching for an alternative to DMK and AIADMK....they want to boycott both parties.. there is a vacuum in state politics, with people dissatisfied with both fronts,” he said.
