Talking to Shyam Balasubramanian, BJP national secy Muralidhar Rao says the party was looking ahead to maintain its present alliance as an alternative to Dravidian majors in 2016 Assembly polls
Starting with the attack by Narendra Modi on the DMK and the AIADMK, the State leadership has started targeting them. What changed from the situation when your party refrained from attacking them?
We were following a ‘no first attack’ approach. Now that she (Jayalalithaa) has attacked us, there is no moral obligation on our behalf. We have always been saying that in the Delhi game, she has a limited utility. She cannot be a solution on her own. We thought no limited player should fight the alternative to the Congress in a fierce way, so as to create or strengthen a situation supportive to the Congress. It is only simple that you should not allow anybody who directly or indirectly is helping the Congress in this war by fiercely attacking the BJP. BJP wanted to give sufficient scope for any player to understand the situation and play the game. So, we did not attack her. Now, we are not constrained.
Are you willing to state categorically that the BJP will not ally with the DMK or the AIADMK in a post-poll scenario?
I am confident of the capacity of the NDA, both at the Centre and the State, in achieving the objective of forming the government based on pre-poll alliance. People are not going to accept any wavering from us. Wavering is a sign of weakness. You will see a clear and absolute majority for the NDA. There are a number of parties across the country. So, definitely, we will not need them (DMK or AIADMK).
What is the plank on which the BJP is levelling criticism against the DMK?
Without attacking the DMK, the campaign for change becomes incomplete. And sometimes, it may be seen as personal. The entire approach of our political front in TN is as an alternative to both the DMK and the AIADMK. So, we have to club DMK in our attack, not on personal grounds, but on electoral grounds.
By using the term ‘alternative’ to describe your political front, are you revealing an intention to maintain the alliance for the 2016 Assembly polls?
When you create a relationship, it is not necessary that this relationship has to be like a Hindu marriage, that for the next seven lives this marriage is going to be there. In the political domain, it does not work like that. We have started this alig-nment in TN for Parliament elections. But, we are also looking forward. This will give a path-breaking answer for the long-term problems of Tamil Nadu. If there is anything that is undefined today, it will get defined after the Parliament polls. Colours will get added more and more.
There are a number of policy disagreements with your present allies in Tamil Nadu, over the Uniform Civil Code, Ram Temple and Article 370. Have you already agreed on a framework with them on no-go areas? Has a start already been made informally on a Common Minimum Programme with them?
We have not created an alliance on a clean slate. BJP will retain its original agenda. Other parties will also retain their agendas. Development and good governance are going to be the central issues of the Common Minimum Programme.
Why has the BJP not been able to attract Muslim outfits into its TN alliance?
I do not see Muslims as a vote bank for a particular party. Muslims are part of the society. Identifying Muslims as a bloc and recognising a party as a Muslim party and having a tie up with that party is unacceptable for the BJP.