Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 25: While the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance last week, in neighbouring Tamil Nadu the AIADMK on Monday decided to snap its decades-old ties with the BJP and quit the NDA.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the AIADMK MPs, MLAs and district heads of the party held in Chennai on Monday amid a row over comments by the BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai. The AIADMK had accused the BJP leader of deliberately defaming its present and past leaders.
The JD(S) launched by the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda joined the NDA camp only last week after being peeped over Congress intruding into its citadel in Old Mysuru region in Karnataka. The JD(S) had lately suffered heavy casualty in the elections, its strength having been reduced by half to 39 seats it held in the last Karnataka Assembly. Its expectations to play the role of king maker was also dashed by the Congress winning a comfortable clear majority earlier this year.
The break-up was announced by AIADMK Deputy General Secretary KP Munusamy after a resolution was passed unanimously at the meeting. “AIADMK is breaking all ties with BJP and NDA from today. The State leadership of the BJP had been, for the last one year, “deliberately, in a planned manner and with motive, defaming icons of the party such as CN Annadurai and J Jayalalithaa and “criticising” policies of the party. The AIADMK will fight the 2024 election with its allies,” Mr Munusamy also said.
The announcement was greeted by the party workers in Chennai with loud cheers and celebrated the occasion by bursting crackers in front of the party office and distributed sweets. AIAMK spokesperson Sasirekha said, “… based on members’ opinion we are taking this resolution. This is the happiest moment (for us). We are very happy to face the upcoming elections (on our own), whether Parliamentary or Assembly.”
Some party workers said snapping of ties with the BJP would actually benefit the party. “This is a great decision. Our workers welcome this. We didn’t get minorities votes because of BJP alliance. Now we will win all 39 seats (in next year’s Lok Sabha election).”
Mr Annamalai has so far refused to comment. He told reporters, “I will speak with you later… I won’t speak during the yatra, I will speak later.” the BJP leader’s ‘en mann en makkal‘ foot march is to end in Coimbatore on Thursday.
Earlier he had refused to back down. He argued that what he had said was part of history and needed to be understood in the context of the row over Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remark on Sanatana Dharma.
At a meeting in Delhi on Saturday – a last-gasp effort to revive strained ties – the AIADMK stood firm on its demand – that Mr Annamalai either apologise for remarks on the late former Chief Minister CN Annadurai, or be replaced with a “non-controversial leader.” Mr Annadurai, a former chief minister, was the mentor of AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran, also a former chief minister.
A senior AIADMK leader at that meeting said discussions were “cordial”, but remarks by the BJP’s M Chakravarthy painted a different picture. “… leadership does not relish idea of shifting Annamalai as he has been (instrumental in) reviving the party (in Tamil Nadu)… he only made a remark alluding to Annadurai during Sanatana Dharma row and that the AIADMK should not get offended as Annamalai did not criticise the party.”
The AIADMK-BJP alliance was on the brink last week after the former party’s D Jayakumar told reporters “we will decide on the alliance before the election. Annamalai is unfit to be BJP’s state president. He speaks ill of late leaders only to project himself,” he said.
The BJP leader had previously also been critical of the late former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who remains an iconic, almost revered, figure within the AIADMK. At the time, the southern party had demanded the state BJP chief be reined in; Mr Annamalai frequently needles both his party’s ally (the only one in the state) and their joint rival, the DMK.
His comments have led to speculation the BJP is trying to engineer space for itself in Tamil Nadu – a state in which it has failed, so far, to make any electoral headway – before next year’s election. The BJP leaders believed that its alliance with the AIADMK had not helped the party’s cause. Instead, if the DMK and the AIADMK cut each other’s votes, the benefit might go to the BJP.
In March, Annamalai had even spoken out t against allying with the AIADMK, leaving senior leaders fuming. The BJP has had friendly ties with the AIADMK but has usually been kept at arm’s length; Jayalalithaa never actually formed a formal alliance with them when she was in power because she believed it could not fit into the political landscape of the state, which is dominated by Dravidian ideologies.
The AIADMK has lost – overwhelmingly – all elections in which it allied with the BJP, including the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly polls, prompting it to look on the BJP as a liability ahead of the 2024 election. In 2021 the AIADMK won just 75 seats – down from 136 five years earlier – and was ousted from power by the DMK-Congress combine. In the last national election the AIADMK was similarly routed – going from 37 seats to just one – while the DMK went from 0 to 39.