BJP struggles to keep NDA intact in TN, as AIADMK factions spar for supremacy

The BJP has taken it upon itself the unenviable task of riding four horses at one time in Tamil Nadu in a desperate attempt to keep the NDA intact in the state.

All the horses come from the undivided AIADMK stable, one each led by former chief ministers Edappadi Palaniswamy (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS), and the two other factions headed by J Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran.

The BJP was hard-pressed to try and bring some kind of unity among these groups to present a strong challenge to the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.

The ‘Puppet Master’ then began a series of moves, pulling strings in various directions, and forcing the puppets to dance to their tune.

Also read: Erode East bypoll: BJP brokers truce between AIADMK’s warring factions

With the Palaniswami group bent on contesting the Erode East Assembly by-election on February 27 and demanding allotment of the party’s two leaves symbol to its candidate, the BJP had to use all the resources at its command to prevent the other groups from contesting the poll.

OPS had already declared that he would be prepared to support a candidate of the EPS group and lend his signature to the form to be submitted to the Election Commission in order to get the party’s two leaves symbol.

However, Palaniswami was not ready to accept the signature of OPS. Therefore, the BJP came up with a plan to overcome the deadlock, by proposing that presidium’s chairman Hussain’s signature would be enough after getting a mandate from the general council members for the candidate.

Overcoming resistance

Sasikala was easily persuaded not to support any other candidate, but Dhinakaran was a tough nut to crack. The BJP offered him to withdraw the candidature and create a perception that the AIADMK votes would not be divided in the fight against the DMK-combine.

Also read: Reviving the legacy of Annai Sathiyavani Muthu, TN’s tall Dalit leader

A lame excuse was prepared for the Dhinakaran group (AMMK) that it would withdraw its candidate since it would not get the ‘cooker’ symbol given earlier to the party. Promptly, Dhinakaran announced the withdrawal of his candidate.

The EPS group, which initially refused to put up photos of BJP leaders in AIADMK campaign posters, and even declared that the candidate was not part of the NDA but a new alliance floated by the AIADMK, was finally won around and agreed to include photos of BJP leaders in the posters.

Watch: ECI approves ‘two-leaves’ symbol for AIADMK: A victory for EPS?

Palaniswami was also asked to announce that the alliance between the BJP and the AIADMK would continue for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The other three factions of the AIADMK are already under the sway of the BJP, and are ready to carry out the bidding. Only, the EPS had to fall in line.

Challenges ahead of 2024 General Elections

A temporary truce has been arranged by the BJP so that the various AIADMK factions will not trample on the toes of the other. However, the alliance for the 2024 polls will be a tricky affair as the EPS group would not be ready to have any truck with the other three factions.
The BJP would put forward a proposal that even if there was no formal merger, the other three factions could be given a few seats each, and also provided the AIADMK’s two leaves symbol so that the AIADMK votes could be encashed in full. The EPS group already rejected such a formula for the Sasikala and Dhinakaran factions within the NDA for the 2021 Assembly elections.

The BJP does not want any stone to be left unturned in its pursuit of some seats at least in the coming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu. Its alliance won only one of the 39 seats up for grabs in the state in the 2019 General Elections.

Also read: Erode East by-poll: AIADMK gets TMC support, BJP in a dilemma

Since the party’s numbers could see a fall in states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka, it is looking at other states like Tamil Nadu to compensate for the losses. But that is a tough task. Tamil Nadu remains a bridge too far for the BJP. That is why, like a drowning man clutching at a straw, it is clinging on to the alliance with the AIADMK, in the hope that next time it could bag a few seats from here.

(The writer is a veteran journalist based in Chennai)