Can Tirunelveli be BJP’s second Kanniyakumari? It depends on this man

While originally from Nagercoil, three-time MLA and hotelier Nagendran has been a significant figure in Tirunelveli now for over two decades. A Maravar Thevar, he had a swift rise in the AIADMK after joining it in the late 1980s; the AIADMK top echelon had many Thevars, including J Jayalalithaa’s confidante V K Sasikala, at the time.

After he won his first Assembly election from the Tirunelveli Assembly seat in 2001, Nagendran was made a minister by Jayalalithaa, and given portfolios such as Electricity, Industries and Transport. Following Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, Nagendran shifted to the BJP, claiming “lack of direction” in the AIADMK.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, he was re-elected from Tirunelveli on a BJP ticket, in an alliance with the AIADMK. One of the four BJP candidates elected to the House, he was appointed the party legislative party leader.

Amidst the rise of K Annamalai in the Tamil Nadu BJP, including his appointment as the state party chief, Nagendran has held his own. Unlike the brash IPS officer-turned-politician, who doesn’t mind treading on toes, Nagendran has come to perfect a politics that mixes a vision for regional development with cultural nationalism – which is seen as just the gap the BJP needs to fill in its Mission Tamil Nadu.

While Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned for Nagendran in the 2021 Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed two rallies in Tirunelveli, including one on Monday.

Nagendran, who has been preparing the ground for the Lok Sabha elections for about a year, says the BJP has a “better understanding” of Tirunelveli now.

The vote shares in the TirunelveIi Lok Sabha seats over the years. Map by Anjishnu Das)

However, that doesn’t make his job in Tirunelveli any easier, Nagendran admits. “It is crucial here to get votes from different communities such as Maravars (OBCs), Devendrakula Vellalar (SCs), and forwards, as well as orthodox Hindu communities such as Pillais and Hindu minorities like Chettiars and Muthaliars. We must expand our community engagement to expand into vote banks traditionally held by the DMK and AIADMK,” he says, adding that the BJP has also zeroed in on forward communities and minority Hindu groups such as Brahmins “ignored” by the regional parties.

Nagendran has been courting the Muslim community too, promising to pay “Rs 1 crore” if the Citizenship (Amendment) Act impacts any Indian Muslim and vowing to stand against “discriminatory policies” towards minorities. He claims he will get Muslim backing, “at least 20-30 voters per booth” and “5% of the total community’s votes”.

Plus, he hopes to attract at least a part of his former AIADMK support base, particularly as the party has fielded a relatively weak candidate from Tirunelveli, M Jansi Rani.

In 2019, the DMK had won Nagendran with 50% of the vote share. Its leaders say Nagendran might come second but won’t cross 30% of the vote share. A DMK minister from the south says that while Nagendran’s campaign started on a strong note, “he cannot take on the larger DMK alliance, backed by Dalit, minority and Left parties”.

According to DMK sources, while the party feared earlier that Tirunelveli may be one of the seats it might lose, its latest surveys show an improvement in its position.

Plus, Tirunelveli usually stands with the ruling party, like it did in 2014 when it voted for the AIADMK, and 2019, when it backed the DMK.

Nagendran admits it took him time to find his feet in a party with a national canvas, with the BJP leadership’s decision to send in L Murugan and promote Annamalai seen as setbacks to him.

About a comparison between him and Annamalai, Nagendran says cryptically: “I lack his ability to speak about all subjects.”