Chennai: K. Annamalai, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit, has come to the defence of the party’s former state unit chief and current Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is in the eye of a political storm over her remark that the people of Tamil Nadu “did not recognise the leadership skills” of BJP leaders.
Congress and DMK leaders have reacted strongly to her words, calling them “an insult to the voters of Tamil Nadu”.
“I don’t think Tamilisai akka (elder sister) has meant it in that context. What she meant is that there are leaders in Tamil Nadu who have absolute distinction, who have many things to offer to the country. That is why the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), home minister (Amit Shah) and Rashtrapati (Droupadi Murmu) have given them the opportunity to work as governors,” Annamalai told ThePrint, in an attempy to play down the controversy.
He added: “What she meant in the larger context is that they (these leaders) are working for the nation in a way that they are working for the Tamil people.”
During a college event in Coimbatore Monday, Soundararajan, who is also the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, while answering a question on former Tamil Nadu BJP leaders being made Governors by the Centre, said: “The people of Tamil Nadu did not recognise our leadership skills. Had we been elected as Members of Parliament, we could have become ministers.”
Political analyst Sumanth C. Raman has said that Soundararajan’s statement was “a display of her disappointment at the voters”.
“After working for years together, when the efforts of the BJP have not paid off, her disappointment is what is being put forth this way,” he said.
Over the years, the BJP has not been able to make much of a dent in Tamil Nadu.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the party contested five seats in the state, it could only garner a vote share of 3.66 per cent.
In the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls, the BJP contested 20 seats, but could only win four. In the recent local body polls of 2022, Annamalai claimed that the party had reached the third position in the state, garnering a vote share of 5.4 per cent.
Also read: ‘BJP has gone from nowhere to somewhere’: Message from Tamil Nadu local body poll results
‘People are clear they will never elect BJP’
Soundararajan’s comment came in the backdrop of BJP’s former Tamil Nadu chief and former MP from Coimbatore constituency, C.P. Radhakrishnan, being made Governor of Jharkhand earlier this month.
Soundararajan, who had been the BJP chief in Tamil Nadu between 2014 and 2019, added: “We were not elected as MPs. Hence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah posted us as Governors since they did not want to waste our talent. It is not our fault. People should acknowledge our administrative skills. They should identify good people and talent.”
Responding to Soundararajan’s remark, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar, Manickam Tagore, told ThePrint, “People of Tamil Nadu are intelligent. They know who they want as their voice for Thoothukudi.”
Soundararajan had contested against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Kanimozhi from Thoothukudi constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Kanimozhi had won with a margin of 3.47 lakh votes to become the first woman MP from the constituency.
Soundararajan, who has contested four elections so far (two assembly and two Lok Sabha), has been unsuccessful in all.
“This (her words) is like insulting the people of Tamil Nadu. The people of the state have elected many (leaders) and have made many lose. But to make such a remark shows arrogance of the BJP and (its ideological parent) RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh),” added Manickam.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai told ThePrint, “People in a democracy decide who they want as their elected representative. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, people are clear that they will never elect a BJP government.”
“(BJP leader) Pon Radhakrishnan was made a (Union) minister (in the past) but what has he done for Tamil Nadu? Similarly, L. Murugan is a minister (of state) now, but what has he done for the state?” he asked.
According to Raman, it is common for political parties to give plum posts to reward leaders to encourage the cadre.
“The party in power at the Centre always tries to accommodate people in its various state units even if they don’t win elections in those states. K. Jana Krishnamurthi became BJP national president (2001 to 2002) and Pon Radhakrishnan was made a Union minister. Now, C.P. Radhakrishnan and Tamilisai have become governors and Murugan has been made a minister.”
“This is more for the cadre. It is like an incentive for the hard work they put in,” he explained.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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