Will Annamalai be able to walk the talk for BJP in Tamil Nadu?

K Annamalai has taken it on himself, with adequate high-profile support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to change the fortunes of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, a key state that has remained outside the party's grasp for decades.

The 39-year-old state BJP chief, a former IPS officer, is confident he will succeed in his mission, but most critics feel he will be like a pricked balloon when the election results are declared.

Grapevine has it that Annamalai initially hesitated to plunge into the Lok Sabha battle citing his busy schedule managing the party's electioneering efforts. But the party high command insisted that he run.

Confident Annamalai

After all, Annamalai was confident of the BJP's ability under his leadership to secure more than 20 per cent of the votes in the sprawling state, a feat thought to be unattainable for the party.

“The high command thought that if he was so capable, he should also contest,” a senior BJP leader told The Federal.

Tamil Nadu, which elects 39 members to the Lok Sabha, has remained a tough challenge for the BJP for several years. The party was not even widely known in the state for decades, both in its earlier avatar as Jana Sangh and later as the BJP.

Tamil Nadu goes to polls in a single phase on April 19.

Dipping vote share

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured a vote share of just over 3.5 per cent, which dipped to 2.62 per cent in the 2021 Assembly polls although four of its candidates made it to the Assembly. On both occasions, the BJP had the AIADMK as an ally.

In the run up to the Lok Sabha election, the BJP made frantic attempts to continue with its alliance but the AIADMK was not eager and eventually walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Therefore, the BJP now leads an alliance of its own in the state. It is contesting 19 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the rest to its seven allies including PMK, AMMK and Tamil Maanila Congress.

Informed sources say that with Karnataka unlikely to give the BJP the bonanza it gave in 2019, the party is placing significant emphasis on making inroads into Tamil Nadu. It is no wonder that Modi has made over half-a-dozen quick trips to the state in just three months, often visiting popular temples.

Controversies aplenty

Despite Modi’s electoral aggression, Annamalai continues to court controversies.

His recent interview with Puthiyathalaimurai stirred another controversy. Running for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency, where he faces strong competition from the DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar and AIADMK’s Singai Ramachandran, the BJP leader predicted the AIADMK's demise after the elections.

Annamalai strongly criticised the AIADMK. He stated that given the chance, the BJP would eradicate Dravidian parties from Tamil Nadu, confidently declaring that no Dravidian party would remain in the state after the 2024 elections.

Targeting Edappadi

Annamalai sharply criticised AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, accusing him of arrogance and having a domineering attitude. Additionally, he blamed the BJP's defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu on the AIADMK's alleged links with corruption.

The comments invited ridicule from AIADMK leaders.

"Why didn't Annamalai express his disagreement when Modi mentioned MGR or Jayalalithaa in his speech in Palladam?" asked rebel AIADMK leader and former MP KC Palanisamy, referring to the AIADMK’s two tallest leaders. "This indicates Annamalai's political inexperience."

If it was true that the AIADMK won many seats in the 2021 Assembly only because of the BJP, why was it that Annamalai himself was defeated in Aravakuruchi constituency, Palanisamy demanded to know.

He further said a desperate BJP wooed the AIADMK for an alliance until the last moment and even offered to remove Annamalai from the post of state president. "After elections, Annamalai’s arrogance will probably be diminished,” he said.

Another AIADMK leader, OS Manian, wondered if Annamalai was a "big magician" to make the AIADMK disappear from Tamil Nadu.

BJP is ‘outsider’

Annamalai's controversial statements coincide with the efforts of the DMK and the AIADMK to treat the BJP as an outsider in Tamil Nadu.

During a recent press meet in Coimbatore, Industries Minister TRB Raja declined to respond to a question about the BJP, saying he would only address allegations raised on the AIADMK, the primary opposition party.

The AIADMK has taken a similar approach. Former AIADMK minister SP Velumani said recently that the fight in Tamil Nadu was between the AIADMK and the DMK. “I don’t wish to waste my time on BJP, which is at third place,” he added.

Political observers say Annamalai’s idea is to build a politics of perception.

Building a narrative

"Whether or not Annamalai will be able to secure a significant vote share for the BJP, he has achieved some success in creating a perception or building a narrative that the BJP is giving a tough fight,” said one analyst who did not wish to be quoted by name.

“It is only perception politics. His statement about AIADMK’s disappearance or about Dravidian parties losing out should be seen in this context."

The AIADMK and the DMK have perhaps realised this tactic and have effectively countered it by deciding that the fight is among themselves. The battle this time is more about keeping the BJP at bay.

Even BJP insiders say that Annamalai’s aim is keep a conversation going on about him and his party. “This is something he's been doing from the start. Whether or not he will walk the talk, we will know – as he himself says – on June 4," said one source.

June 4 is when the results of the seven-phase parliamentary elections will be declared.