With the dates for 2026 Assembly elections expected soon, Tamil Nadu BJP president and its floor leader in the Assembly Nainar Nagenthran, in this interview with TNIE’s Subashini Vijayakumar, says people feel cheated by DMK and also emphasised on the need for a state government that maintains cordial relationship with the centre.
Dravidian parties are often seen as having stronger grassroots presence than national parties. Since becoming state BJP president, how have you worked to overcome this perception?
Party presidents across different tenures have faced different challenges in strengthening the party structure. Today, however, people are seeing how the central government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has handled major issues. India has now become the fourth-largest economy in the world. Modiji’s stature has grown significantly and so is the support for BJP.
These national-level achievements have also translated into greater support at the grassroots level in TN. Many are joining BJP. We have appointed booth-level agents for around 64,000 booths, which is on a par with the organisational strength of AIADMK and DMK.
What would be the key issues for the 2026 polls? Will law and order, and corruption-related issues raised by the opposition resonate with the people?
The most important issues will be governance failure, unfulfilled election promises and a breakdown of law and order.
Before coming to power, DMK promised to not increase any tariffs. However, after forming the government, it increased electricity charges and property tax manifold. The sharp rise in power tariff severely affected MSMEs. DMK has fulfilled only around 50 of the 505 promises it made in its election manifesto.
Even the cash assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to women was rolled out after a delay of three years, keeping in mind the (2024) LS elections. Similarly, DMK did not give cash assistance during Pongal last two years, but they gave Rs 3,000 this year because of the assembly polls. Overall, people feel they have been cheated by DMK and that the government machinery is not functioning effectively.
DMK and its allies’ key accusation is that the centre is giving TN a step-motherly treatment, an allegation raised after the recent budget as well.
No matter what scheme the central government introduces, DMK chooses confrontation by approaching the Supreme Court instead of cooperation. In reality, the (BJP-led) centre has been disbursing a much higher shareof funds to TN compared to the previous Congress-led governments.
In the recent Union Budget, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced allocation of Rs 7,300 crore for TN. A cultural centre at Adichanallur was announced in the budget. Similarly, the SHE Mart scheme aimed at inclusive development will benefit TN women as well. Despite this, the DMK government opposes almost every initiative of the centre.
While DMK claims that education funds are pending, it has failed to fully utilise the funds allotted for the welfare of Adi Dravidar and Tribal communities. The state’s debt has increased from around Rs 4 lakh crore to nearly Rs 9 lakh crore in the last five years. Key departments such as transport and TNEB are running at heavy losses. These clearly show that the issue is not step-motherly treatment by the centre, but financial mismanagement and lack of governance at the state level.
What will be the focus of BJP’s election manifesto?
A team headed by Tamilisai Soundararajan will tour districts from February 6 to understand TN people’s aspirations and prepare the manifesto accordingly.
From my perspective, strengthening water resources to ensure piped drinking water for every household under the Jal Jeevan Mission should be a key focus.
Earlier, there was a proposal for Cauvery–Vaigai interlinking scheme, but the present state government failed to implement it. If projects such as Cauvery–Vaigai, Vaigai–Malattar, and Malattar–Gundar river interlinking are implemented, they will greatly benefit rain-fed regions in the southern districts, especially Ramanathapuram.
Such large-scale development is possible only with a “double-engine sarkar”, as envisioned by PM Modi. It is crucial for the state government to maintain a cordial and cooperative relationship with the centre.
With PMK founder S Ramadoss and DMDK still keeping their options open, when do you expect NDA to be finalised?
Elections are still two months away. We can expect many changes, even after the announcement of dates for the polls.
AMMK joining NDA was seen as a boost for the alliance. However, T T V Dhinakaran has now said he will not contest. Does it give mixed signals and diminish NDA’s prospects?
Contesting is his individual choice, but he will work for the alliance. He has been an MP in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. That may be a reason for his hesitance to contest for an MLA seat now.
Annamalai’s decision to step away from the responsibility to oversee six constituencies has raised questions of discontent in the party…
We had allotted five to six constituencies to each leader to assess ground realities and work there. Annamalai has clearly said that his father’s illness is the reason. In his letter to me as well, he has only said he would not be able to take up the responsibility of the six constituencies at this stage, but assured that he would readily take part in the party’s campaign in the future.
On seeming contradictions between the AIADMK and the BJP regarding a possible “coalition” government if NDA wins…
This is only being discussed by the media. By “double-engine sarkar”, we mean the central and the state governments working cordially with each other.
The issue of power sharing is prominent in the DMK-Congress alliance, which is their internal matter. But it is evident that there are differences. Ultimately, the nature of the government will depend on the number of MLAs each party secures.
Actor Vijay (TVK) is being seen as an unpredictable factor. Whose vote do you think he is eating into?
I think our (NDA) vote share is intact.