Why BJP wants to revisit alliance strategy in Tamil Nadu as talks with AIADMK gather pace

Sources said the BJP’s national leadership was keen on bringing back expelled AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS, and T T V Dhinakaran whose outfit Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam was part of the NDA till last year, as well as Premlatha Vijaykanth-led DMDK. Palaniswami, however, is not keen on taking back OPS and Dhinakaran as he does not want any potential challengers in the party who can dilute his control over the organisation, sources said.

However, the BJP’s national leadership is keen to consolidate the anti-DMK votes and is trying to persuade the AIADMK to agree to joining hands again with the two because both OPS and Dhinkaran command influence in the Thevar community, a powerful Other Backward Class (OBC) group in the southern and Delta regions. Both of them have been in talks with actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), adding a sense of urgency to the BJP’s efforts.

Keen to present a “much stronger and robust NDA” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Tamil Nadu later this month, the BJP wants to wrap up these negotiations and have all the pro-NDA leaders back in the party by then. The PM is expected to address multiple rallies to kickstart the BJP’s poll push in a state where it has historically struggled to gain a toehold. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the party’s election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, initiated seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK last month and the BJP, sources said, could even consider offering seats to these smaller parties from its share to accommodate them in the NDA and allay the AIADMK’s concerns.

What has provided momentum to its efforts to expand the NDA again is a recent meeting between former state BJP president K Annamalai — who has been a vocal critic of the AIADMK in the past and enjoys better ties with OPS and Dhinakaran — and the party’s national leadership in New Delhi.

“The central leadership now wants to utilise Annamalai and his influence in the state political circles is better than the current state president Nainar Nagendran,” said a BJP leader familiar with the developments in Tamil Nadu. While leaving the NDA last year, Dhinakaran had lauded Annamalai for “managing the alliance affairs effectively”.

Eye on Vijay

Not just the smaller outfits, the BJP also wants to rope in Vijay, whose politics so far has been based on an anti-BJP as well as an anti-DMK narrative. But it has not succeeded so far. There have been suggestions from a section of BJP leaders that to defeat the DMK alliance, the party could even think about letting the AIADMK and the TVK come together while it itself stays out of that alliance and fights the polls along with smaller outfits. In such a scenario, tacit support post-elections remains an option.

“But that remains just a suggestion so far. No developments have taken place to materialise that proposal,” said a senior BJP leader.

These attempts to build a winning poll strategy come at a time when certain uneasiness has appeared in the alliance between the DMK and the Congress, with a section of the latter, the junior ally, keen on either negotiating for more seats and a bigger share of power or exploring an alliance with Vijay’s TVK.

“The uneasiness and the disquiet in the DMK coalition, which has always been projected as strong and stable, is good news for the NDA,” said a BJP leader. “The strains in the ties between the RJD and the Congress in Bihar certainly helped us claim an upper hand in terms of promising stability.”