The defection of four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the last three days has signalled an escalation of hostility between the two allies in Tamil Nadu, with AIADMK chief and ex-chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami or EPS himself leading the party’s bid to turn the heat on the BJP, which has been accused of exerting “undue influence” over its senior ally for years. EPS recently emerged as the sole principal leader of the AIADMK following the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss his party rival O Panneerselvam or OPS’ petition and uphold a Madras High Court order allowing the former to continue as the party’s interim general secretary. The four Tamil Nadu BJP functionaries who switched to the AIADMK include the party’s IT cell chief CTR Nirmal Kumar, IT cell secretary Dilip Kannan, Trichy rural district vice-president Vijay, and state OBC wing secretary Jothi. Two women BJP leaders also joined the AIADMK Wednesday. While the defections may not deal a body blow to the BJP as the turncoats were not its prominent faces or crucial for its operation, the development assumes significance because of the allegations levelled by them against state party chief K Annamalai and the red carpet welcome they got from EPS himself for their induction into the AIADMK fold. This may mark the end of a honeymoon period between the AIADMK and the BJP, which has continued since Annamalai, a former IPS officer, took charge in July 2021, following which the national party, which rules the Centre, preferred to remain accommodative rather than overbearing towards its Dravidian ally. But this seems to be changing following a string of recent defections as evidenced on Tuesday, when the BJP youth wing activists burnt pictures of EPS in Thoothukudi to protest against the “poaching” of their leaders by the AIADMK, which condemned the incident. Annamalai also took potshots at the AIADMK, ridiculing its bid to “poach” leaders from its junior ally and asking what led to the major Dravidian party resorting to such tactic now. The AIADMK camp claimed that it has handled the matter sensitively as the two parties are still part of an alliance. “However, it is high time for us to make it clear that having the BJP in our alliance is a burden,” a senior AIADMK leader close to EPS told The Indian Express. “Having them on board, we were losing more votes than we could gain by standing alone. Why should we be carrying unconditionally such a baggage?” While Tamil Nadu has also seen many leaders switching loyalties in recent past, most of these developments have been marked with a display of some courtesy with defecting leaders not insulting their former chiefs while joining a new party. For example, an influential AIADMK leader from Karur, Senthil Balaji, who quit the TTV Dhinakaran-led outfit to join the DMK, not only adhered to this unwritten code but also made it clear that he would not speak ill about his erstwhile party. Similarly, Khushbu Sundar, who quit the DMK to join the Congress and later switched to the BJP, also refrained from targeting her former parties to prove her loyalty to the BJP. But, in the latest case, the burning of EPS pictures by the BJP workers and the raging war of words on social media between the two camps betrayed rising tension in their relationship besides reflecting a new low in state politics. While quitting the BJP Nirmal Kumar accused Annamalai of indulging in “autocratic behaviour”. In a scathing letter to his colleagues, Kumar accused him of allegedly “selling the state party headquarters brick by brick” and treating the party like a business. He also alleged that Annamalai was secretly holding talks with a senior DMK minister despite the former being involved in a legal battle with the minister. Kumar's allegations were echoed by another defector Kannan, who also blamed Annamalai for his resignation alleging that the latter refused to provide legal assistance to the party functionaries arrested by the DMK government and even threatened those who tried to do it. He charged that Annamalai “destroyed” the career of a senior leader KT Raghavan, accusing the state BJP president of even “using swear words and spying on party workers”. On his part, Annamalai lost his cool while reacting to such charges levelled by the party defectors. He said he will remain undaunted and press ahead as a BJP leader in the state. “I am a leader, not a manager. I will be a leader like J Jayalalithaa or Karunanidhi, and continue to run the party like that. That is the only way a leader can function. I am not going to sit like a manager who would come and eat idli and keep everyone in good humour,” he said. Annamalai also said: “I will act like a leader and those who cannot adjust will definitely go out of party. Anyways, none of these people quitting BJP will go and do farming….They are only going to another party to raise hands for another leader, nothing wrong in that.” A close aide of Annamalai, Amar Prasad Reddy, head of the state BJP’s sports and skill development wing, also expressed concern about the AIADMK poaching BJP leaders. The AIADMK’s spokesperson Kovai Sathyan dismissed Annamalai's leadership, comparing it with the role of the branch manager of a corporate firm. Underlining the point that the BJP has been riding piggyback on the AIADMK in the state, he asked rhetorically how could the BJP win four seats in the April 2021 Assembly polls when its vote share was earlier lower than even the None of the Above (NOTA) option’s figure. Amid the rising tension between the two allies, a senior BJP leader claimed that the fallout of the defections would peter out after some time without affecting the party. This would however eventually depend on EPS’ game plan in the coming days.
