Chennai: After the Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS)-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) called off its alliance with the BJP, its rival faction led by O Panneerselvam (OPS) indicated that it was getting closer to the national party, but stopped short of announcing a tie-up.
A visibly cheerful OPS told reporters in Chennai Thursday that the BJP’s national leadership had been in talks with him and another ousted AIADMK leader, general secretary of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) TTV Dhinakaran (TTV).
“For the past three months, the BJP high command has been in regular touch with me and TTV Dhinakaran,” OPS said.
Another ousted AIADMK leader, OPS’s aide Panruti Ramachandran, addressed the media, saying: “As far as an alliance with the BJP is concerned, we will take a decision after the BJP decides on its stand.”
The two leaders further lashed out at EPS, calling him an “untrustworthy person”.
“To run the country, we have to give the responsibility to a person who can be trusted. A politician has to earn the trust and one who can be trusted is OPS and that has been proved. One who cannot be trusted, that again has come out in the open for the world to see,” said Ramachandran.
Tensions between the BJP and AIADMK came to the fore when a remark was made by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai earlier this month on C.N. Annadurai, founder of Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), who is also seen as the ideological leader of the AIADMK.
Political analysts had told ThePrint that Annamalai was not the only factor that had caused the AIADMK to break away from the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance led by it at the Centre.
Talking about other factors behind the break-up of the two parties, analyst Priyan Srinivasan said: “There have been some clear-cut demands from the BJP to the AIADMK. One is for close to 20 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls (Tamil Nadu has 39 in all), and second is for the AIADMK to make peace with ousted leaders like OPS and TTV ahead of the polls. Both requests might have put EPS on the spot.”
‘BJP capable of ruling a third time’
Talking to reporters, OPS said the “problem in the NDA alliance with the AIADMK began from the time AIADMK leaders declared that they were leading the alliance in Tamil Nadu”.
“A national party (BJP) which is ruling 16 states. EPS was made to sit next to the PM (at an NDA meet in Delhi) and the announcement (of AIADMK-BJP alliance for 2024) was made. After making such an announcement, the people of the country and the state know who is doing the continuous betrayal,” he said, referring to AIADMK’s break-up with the BJP.
Openly showcasing his support, OPS, who is also a former Tamil Nadu CM, credited the BJP, which has led the NDA alliance twice at the Centre, as the “one capable of ruling a third time”.
OPS further called the AIADMK’s stand against Annamalai and the demand for his removal “unreasonable”, and questioned if EPS would be removed from the AIADMK leadership if the BJP made such a request.
“What right do they have to demand a change in the state leadership of another party,” he asked.
According to Ramachandran, the problem in the BJP-AIADMK alliance began when Annamalai said the BJP will come to power in Tamil Nadu in 2026.
“EPS had a problem that he won’t be the CM. EPS was not bothered about Anna or (the late long-time AIADMK leader) Jayalalithaa, he was only having the issue that BJP had to accept him as CM for 2026,” claimed Ramachandran.
Stating that the grassroots workers wanted a united AIADMK, the two leaders said that very soon “it will come true and the only person who would stand away from that would be EPS”.
‘AIADMK not able to transfer votes to BJP’
Referring to the Erode East bypoll held this February, OPS said that the EPS faction of the AIADMK could not win in the state’s western region, which includes Erode district — said to be a stronghold of the AIADMK chief.
The poll was won by DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance candidate EVKS Elangovan of the Congress.
Narrating the incidents that led to the Erode bypolls, OPS said: “Annamalai came and met me and said it would be better if we (OPS faction) withdrew (from the poll) as it was EPS’ bastion and there would be chances of the AIADMK winning. I agreed. Annamalai met TTV and he (TTV) also agreed.”
But, OPS said, “E Palaniswami got the Supreme Court judgment in his favour, the (AIADMK’s) two-leaves symbol while in an alliance with a national party, and still lost the bypoll with 66,000 votes”.
“This shows people’s support is not with them (EPS faction),” he added.
According to political analysts, the BJP, which might lose a few seats in the Hindi heartland, is keen on making up for those in the south, especially in Tamil Nadu.
“The BJP central leadership was upset that the vote transfer from the AIADMK to the BJP was not happening in the last two elections,” said analyst and author JVC Sreeram.
He pointed out that in the 2019 polls, the “NDA was only able to get 26.39 percent votes in Tamil Nadu while in alliance with the AIADMK and won just one seat, while in 2014 the NDA had won 18.5 percent votes in the state without allying with the AIADMK”.
“If the NDA was able to get 18.5 percent votes in 2014, then with the AIADMK in alliance, the NDA should have got much higher voteshare, but that did not happen. Now, with a split in the AIADMK, the voteshare will go down further. This is what the BJP leadership was worried about,” said Sreeram.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK, which has been upset with Annamalai over his remarks, has said it has now become difficult for the party to convince cadres to vote for the BJP.
“Annamalai’s remarks on our party, our former leader, make it difficult for the party to convince the cadres to vote for the BJP, as he speaks ill about our former leaders, our general secretary. Annamalai’s attitude is something against the AIADMK and its cadres,” AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan told ThePrint Tuesday.
How an OPS-BJP alliance can gain
If the BJP joined hands with OPS and TTV, they may be able to consolidate the Mukkalathur vote bank, said the analysts.
The Mukkalathor, collectively known as Thevar caste, comprise Maravar, Kallar and Agamudayar castes. Both OPS and TTV come from the Thevar community.
“The Mukkalathors have been feeling backstabbed by EPS because of some of his previous actions, such as removal of V.K. Sasikala (Jayalalithaa’s aide and another Thevar), TTV and OPS,” said Sreeram.
“The AIADMK in 2021 also unanimously passed a bill providing 10.5 per cent reservation to the Vanniyar community in the 20 per cent quota for the Most Backward Classes (which include the Mukkulathor); this was also seen as an act against the Mukkulathor,” he added.
The reservation was later struck down by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court.
In the south, a tie-up with Thevar leaders will prove as an asset to the NDA alliance, the analyst pointed out. “They can even come to a second position and the AIADMK can be pushed to the third in some places,” said Sreeram.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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