AIADMK, BJP part ways for Tamil Nadu local body polls but NDA 'intact'

BJP chief K Annamalai told reporters said the AIADMK was ready to give just 10 per cent of the total seats

As the AIADMK continued to play the hardball, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday parted ways with the regional party, albeit for now, by deciding to contest the February 19 elections to urban local bodies on its own to fulfil the “desires of the party cadre.”

However, the BJP said its relationship with the AIADMK “remains strong” and that Tamil Nadu’s principal Opposition party continues to be part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under whose banner both the parties will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP’s decision came after its talks with AIADMK on seat-sharing for the local body polls ended in a failure as the AIADMK was very stubborn in its stand that it cannot part with “beyond a specific number of seats” to the BJP, citing political compulsions at the local level.

The saffron party, too, was also not willing to compromise on its demand for a “respectable number of seats” eventually leading to a split. The decision to go alone, BJP leaders said, will help the party realise its “real strength” and plan for the future based on the results. The party also believes its strength has “increased” in the past few years.

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That the AIADMK and BJP will not contest in an alliance became clear on Monday morning with AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami leaving Chennai for his home town of Salem after finalising candidates of his party.

“BJP will contest the urban local body polls alone. We have taken the decision in consultation with the party’s national leadership. The decision was taken keeping in mind the interests of party cadres. However, our relationship with AIADMK remains strong. EPS and OPS are gentlemen, and are running the party successfully,” TN BJP chief K Annamalai said.

While the AIADMK was ready to give just 10 per cent of the total seats that go to the polls, the BJP demanded more. In the same vein, Annamalai made it clear that the BJP and AIADMK remain alliance partners at the national level.

“AIADMK is part of the NDA, and the BJP will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with AIADMK. There shall be no doubt about this. However, we want our party to grow. We want Lotus (BJP’s election symbol) to blossom in every household, Annamalai said. The two parties sealed an alliance in 2019.

AIADMK was under pressure from its district-level office bearers and cadres to just allot a “limited number of seats” to the BJP, which they feel, lacks any base in many areas of the state. “Also, our cadres felt local body election is the right time to prove the AIADMK’s base. Our cadre wants to contest in as many seats as possible. For an ordinary cadre, local body election is everything,” a senior AIADMK leader told DH.

The talks were also held amid visible strain in the relationship between the two political parties in the backdrop of an unsavoury remark on AIADMK MLAs by BJP floor leader in the Assembly, Nainar Nagendran, at a protest meeting last week. The BJP raising “forced conversion” in the suicide of a 17-year-old student studying in a Christian school in Thanjavur is also being blamed for AIADMK’s strident stance.

The AIADMK took “strong objection” to the remark forcing Annamalai to personally express regret to joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami.

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