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Breakup or bid for bargaining power? What BJP-AIADMK war of words in Tamil Nadu signals

While BJP top leadership is in favour of alliance, it's letting state chief K Annamalai needle ally, say leaders. AIADMK says it's focussing on relationship with BJP high command.

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Chennai/New Delhi: With the 2024 Lok Sabha election fast approaching, there are signs of a widening rift between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu; leaders of the two alliance partners in the state have constantly been at loggerheads.

Just last week in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai had said, “No one is our partner, everyone is our enemy,” while AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) told reporters in Salem, “Please don’t ask me questions about him (Annamalai).”  

Last month, Annamalai had also spoken against allying with the AIADMK for the 2024 election. And while the BJP’s central leadership is still in favour of the alliance, it has given its state chief the liberty to needle its ally from time to time, just enough to increase the party’s bargaining power, according to sources in the BJP. 

Meanwhile, AIADMK leaders are trying to look beyond Annamalai, dismissing him as a pawn and focussing on the party’s relationship with the BJP’s central leadership. At the same time, they’re increasingly wary of the BJP and have begun to reach out to other potential allies, according to party leaders.

“There is a Lakshman Rekha in an alliance and you should know how to uphold that, and you should know what statement should be made and what should not,” AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan told ThePrint.

Quoting his leader EPS’s statement, Sathyan added that Annamalai’s “triggering remarks are indicative of his attempt for personal mileage”. 

“Annamalai is not (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal to suddenly become a corruption crusader, and the people of Tamil Nadu have the political acumen to understand what one is driving at,” added Sathyan. 

AIADMK organisational secretary Aadhi Rajaram said,”Our party head will only worry about the BJP national leadership. What Annamalai says is of no importance to us.”

According to BJP state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy, this war of words between the top leaders will send the wrong message and “will hurt the cadres be they BJP or AIADMK”.

He further said that the BJP would be focussing on crusading against corruption, “The people of the state want the corrupt exposed and our leader said he will bring out those who are corrupt from any party.” 

“If the AIADMK thinks Annamalai spoke about them, then we are not responsible for that,” added Thirupathy.

A.S. Paneerselvan, author and fellow at Chennai’s Roja Muthiah Research Library, said, “The BJP national leadership has not taken any visible action against Annamalai. The reality is that the party leadership is letting him get away with whatever he says. That is the reason we are not sure what the central leadership’s plan is.”

He added that these conversations are “essentially their (the BJP’s) way to remain politically relevant”. 

ThePrint tried to reach Annamalai for comment via telephone but did not receive a response.


Also read: DMK slaps legal notice on BJP for ‘imaginary’ allegations made in ‘expose’. BJP says ‘stand by DMK Files’


BJP vs AIADMK

In a state where the two Dravidian parties — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the AIADMK — haven’t allowed any national party to dominate politics for the past five decades, the BJP is now working hard to make its way in.

While the party was able to win four seats in the 2021 state assembly 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 party stayed in the spotlight, with constant attacks on the ruling DMK. But there has also been conflict with the AIADMK; for example, the allies engaged in a poaching war last month, inducting a number of each other’s workers.

“Annamalai has brought the BJP into the state’s political narrative,” said a Tamil Nadu BJP functionary. “The DMK and the AIADMK are forced to reply to Annamalai. They can slap cases against our leader — it only shows they are scared of our singam (lion), revealing their true colours.”

According to a senior BJP functionary in Delhi, although some of the party’s leaders in Tamil Nadu have been critical of Annamalai’s approach to the alliance, their views haven’t found traction with the national leadership. 

However, the BJP’s action plan in the state is dependent on its ally, say analysts. A senior AIADMK leader who’s no longer active in politics concurs, saying, “The BJP needs a Dravidian partner in the state to get leverage in Tamil Nadu.”

But there’s a flip side to this, too: “Ever since former AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa’s demise (in 2016), the AIADMK has been at the mercy of the BJP,” said Panneerselvan. 

The BJP has been able to tighten and loosen the screws with regard to the AIADMK, he added. “All the AIADMK’s cases are still pending and not fully resolved in court, including the first case filed by V.K. Sasikala over her removal as general secretary.” 

Sasikala, a close aide of Jayalalithaa, was appointed interim general secretary after the former CM’s death and was key to EPS’s appointment as chief minister in 2017. However, she was subsequently removed from the post that same year. 

The AIADMK itself has grown cautious of the alliance with the national party. According to party sources, EPS has been taking a tougher stand, and doesn’t want to look like he’s at the BJP’s “mercy”.

The alliance also leaves the Dravidian party at a disadvantage in the state over some vital issues, said the senior AIADMK leader quoted above. 

“Issues like NEET, the National Education Policy, and the two-language formula are of great importance in the state, and here there is a contradiction between our stand and that of the BJP at the Centre,” the leader said. 


Also read: New AIADMK general secretary EPS on party building spree: ‘Enrolling new cadres, infusing fresh blood’


Sever ties and forge new alliances?

According to a senior central BJP functionary, “Annamalai is persistently conveying to the party central leadership to fight elections without an alliance with the AIADMK. But the party has told him that it will go with an alliance partner.”

While the BJP has been losing its allies in states such as Bihar and Punjab, the top leadership considers it unwise to contest alone in Tamil Nadu, knowing it has limited presence there, according to a party general secretary.

Although the state unit has been advised to avoid attacks on partners, “efforts to build a robust organisation and a narrative that will add pressure for a better share of seats during seat talks have been permitted”, added the BJP general secretary. 

Meanwhile, as the leadership tussle within the AIADMK — between EPS and O. Panneerselvam — sees a temporary halt, the senior leadership has been focussed on building up the party organisation, including a drive to expand the membership to 2 crore people and strengthening booth-level committees.

And with AIADMK leaders increasingly wary of the alliance with the BJP, they’ve started approaching other possible allies for the 2024 general election, say party sources. 

B. Valarmathi, a former state minister and secretary of the AIADMK women’s wing, said, “From the time of MGR (AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran), Amma (J. Jayalalithaa) and now EPS, the cadres will accept the alliance forged by the party leadership. Closer to the election, a decision will be made on an alliance, and the 1.5 crore cadres of the party will follow that.”

(Edited by Rohan Manoj)


Also read: Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam: Why BJP’s taking 3,000 TN residents on trip to Modi home state Gujarat


 

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