Chennai/New Delhi: With the 2024 Lok Sabha election quick approaching, there are indicators of a widening rift between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) in Tamil Nadu; leaders of the 2 alliance companions within the state have always been at loggerheads.
Simply final week in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu BJP chief Ok. Annamalai had mentioned, “Nobody is our companion, everyone seems to be our enemy,” whereas AIADMK basic secretary and former Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami (EPS) instructed reporters in Salem, “Please don’t ask me questions on him (Annamalai).”
Final month, Annamalai had additionally spoken in opposition to allying with the AIADMK for the 2024 election. And whereas the BJP’s central management continues to be in favour of the alliance, it has given its state chief the freedom to needle its ally every so often, simply sufficient to extend the occasion’s bargaining energy, based on sources within the BJP.
In the meantime, AIADMK leaders try to look past Annamalai, dismissing him as a pawn and focussing on the occasion’s relationship with the BJP’s central management. On the identical time, they’re more and more cautious of the BJP and have begun to achieve out to different potential allies, based on occasion leaders.
“There’s a Lakshman Rekha in an alliance and you must know how one can uphold that, and you must know what assertion needs to be made and what mustn’t,” AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan instructed ThePrint.
Quoting his chief EPS’s assertion, Sathyan added that Annamalai’s “triggering remarks are indicative of his try for private mileage”.
“Annamalai isn’t (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal to abruptly change into a corruption crusader, and the folks of Tamil Nadu have the political acumen to grasp what one is driving at,” added Sathyan.
AIADMK organisational secretary Aadhi Rajaram mentioned,”Our occasion head will solely fear in regards to the BJP nationwide management. What Annamalai says is of no significance to us.”
In response to BJP state vp Narayanan Thirupathy, this confrontation between the highest leaders will ship the flawed message and “will damage the cadres be they BJP or AIADMK”.
He additional mentioned that the BJP could be focussing on crusading in opposition to corruption, “The folks of the state need the corrupt uncovered and our chief mentioned he’ll deliver out those that are corrupt from any occasion.”
“If the AIADMK thinks Annamalai spoke about them, then we’re not answerable for that,” added Thirupathy.
A.S. Paneerselvan, creator and fellow at Chennai’s Roja Muthiah Analysis Library, mentioned, “The BJP nationwide management has not taken any seen motion in opposition to Annamalai. The truth is that the occasion management is letting him get away with no matter he says. That’s the reason we’re not certain what the central management’s plan is.”
He added that these conversations are “primarily their (the BJP’s) option to stay politically related”.
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BJP vs AIADMK
In a state the place the 2 Dravidian events — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the AIADMK — haven’t allowed any nationwide occasion to dominate politics for the previous 5 many years, the BJP is now working exhausting to make its method in.
Whereas the occasion was in a position to win 4 seats within the 2021 state meeting polls after a 20-year dry spell, its vote share remained low at 2.6 per cent.
It was after this that Annamalai, a former IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre, was appointed president of the BJP’s state unit. And ever since, he’s ensured that the occasion stayed within the highlight, with fixed assaults on the ruling DMK. However there has additionally been battle with the AIADMK; for instance, the allies engaged in a poaching conflict final month, inducting quite a few one another’s staff.
“Annamalai has introduced the BJP into the state’s political narrative,” mentioned a Tamil Nadu BJP functionary. “The DMK and the AIADMK are compelled to answer to Annamalai. They’ll slap instances in opposition to our chief — it solely exhibits they’re afraid of our singam (lion), revealing their true colors.”
In response to a senior BJP functionary in Delhi, though among the occasion’s leaders in Tamil Nadu have been crucial of Annamalai’s strategy to the alliance, their views haven’t discovered traction with the nationwide management.
Nevertheless, the BJP’s motion plan within the state depends on its ally, say analysts. A senior AIADMK chief who’s now not lively in politics concurs, saying, “The BJP wants a Dravidian companion within the state to get leverage in Tamil Nadu.”
However there’s a flip facet to this, too: “Ever since former AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa’s demise (in 2016), the AIADMK has been on the mercy of the BJP,” mentioned Panneerselvan.
The BJP has been in a position to tighten and loosen the screws with regard to the AIADMK, he added. “All of the AIADMK’s instances are nonetheless pending and never absolutely resolved in court docket, together with the primary case filed by V.Ok. Sasikala over her removing as basic secretary.”
Sasikala, a detailed aide of Jayalalithaa, was appointed interim basic secretary after the previous CM’s dying and was key to EPS’s appointment as chief minister in 2017. Nevertheless, she was subsequently faraway from the put up that very same yr.
The AIADMK itself has grown cautious of the alliance with the nationwide occasion. In response to occasion sources, EPS has been taking a more durable stand, and doesn’t need to appear like he’s on the BJP’s “mercy”.
The alliance additionally leaves the Dravidian occasion at an obstacle within the state over some important points, mentioned the senior AIADMK chief quoted above.
“Points like NEET, the Nationwide Schooling Coverage, and the two-language formulation are of nice significance within the state, and right here there’s a contradiction between our stand and that of the BJP on the Centre,” the chief mentioned.
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Sever ties and forge new alliances?
In response to a senior central BJP functionary, “Annamalai is persistently conveying to the occasion central management to struggle elections with out an alliance with the AIADMK. However the occasion has instructed him that it’ll go together with an alliance companion.”
Whereas the BJP has been dropping its allies in states akin to Bihar and Punjab, the highest management considers it unwise to contest alone in Tamil Nadu, understanding it has restricted presence there, based on a celebration basic secretary.
Though the state unit has been suggested to keep away from assaults on companions, “efforts to construct a strong organisation and a story that can add stress for a greater share of seats throughout seat talks have been permitted”, added the BJP basic secretary.
In the meantime, because the management tussle throughout the AIADMK — between EPS and O. Panneerselvam — sees a short lived halt, the senior management has been focussed on build up the occasion organisation, together with a drive to develop the membership to 2 crore folks and strengthening booth-level committees.
And with AIADMK leaders more and more cautious of the alliance with the BJP, they’ve began approaching different potential allies for the 2024 basic election, say occasion sources.
B. Valarmathi, a former state minister and secretary of the AIADMK ladies’s wing, mentioned, “From the time of MGR (AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran), Amma (J. Jayalalithaa) and now EPS, the cadres will settle for the alliance solid by the occasion management. Nearer to the election, a call shall be made on an alliance, and the 1.5 crore cadres of the occasion will comply with that.”
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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