Chennai: The Tamil Maanila Congress has officially joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), months before the general election.
Party chief G.K. Vasan said Monday that the country’s economic growth and security are the need of the hour, which has led to the decision.
The party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes at a time when the AIADMK has snapped its ties with the Narendra Modi-led party and dashed chances for any such alliance in the future.
In a press meeting at the party headquarters Monday, Vasan said, “Considering the welfare of people and our party and assessing which party would care for the welfare of our state and Tamils across the world, we have taken this decision.”
Vasan also said he would go to the 27 February public meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Palladam in Tirupur district.
Vasan is the son of party founder G.K. Moopanar, who made headlines with his refusal to support the BJP in a 1999 trust vote in the Lok Sabha, leading to the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government for want of one vote.
After Vasan’s announcement, BJP Tamil Nadu chief K. Annamalai met Vasan.
“I thank Tamil Maanila Congress and G.K. Vasan for reinforcing his support to NDA and PM Modi. Tamil Maanila Congress was always a different political party, a regional party with nationalism at its core…G.K. Vasan has given confidence to the people of Tamil Nadu today that he foresees a future where more MPs of Tamil Nadu will be part of the NDA,” Annamalai later told the press.
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Tamil Maanila Congress: journey so far
Former MP G.K. Moopanar founded the Tamil Maanila Congress in 1996 as a breakaway faction of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.
The split came after the then Congress high command decided to continue with its alliance with the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK for the 1996 Lok Sabha polls despite differences.
In her first tenure as chief minister from 1991 to 1996, Jayalalithaa and her government faced several corruption allegations. That had soured the relationship between her and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.
Moopanar, a close associate of Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu CM K. Kamaraj, joined hands with the DMK for the 1996 state assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The Tamil Maanila Congress, as part of the alliance, witnessed much success. It won 39 of 40 seats it contested in the state assembly polls and all 20 seats it contested in the Lok Sabha polls.
Moopanar’s refusal to support the BJP in the 1999 trust vote despite pressure from the DMK led to the collapse of the then Vajpayee-led government. At the time, Moopanar reportedly said he was committed to secularism and would never support the BJP.
After Moopanar died in 2001, the party unanimously elected Vasan as its president. The Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress merged with the Congress in 2002. But the merger lasted only till 2014.
Ahead of the 2016 assembly polls, Vasan in a bid to reform the party joined the People’s Welfare Front (PWF) alliance which included parties like Captain Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-(M)). It failed terribly in the 2016 state assembly polls.
In 2019, the Tamil Maanila Congress joined hands with the AIADMK, which was then part of the NDA alliance. But it lost the lone seat it contested in the Lok Sabha polls.
In 2020, the AIADMK nominated Vasan to the Rajya Sabha and he was elected to the Upper House reportedly with the BJP’s backing.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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