CHENNAI: The State unit of the BJP was literally put in a spot by a double whammy by two yesteryear actors that it actively courted, when DMDK leader Vijayakant and AISMK leader R Sarathkumar decided to ignore its calls for an alliance. However, putting a brave face, the party leaders quoted LK Advani to spin this as a chance to prove its strength.
While Vijayakant, a former ally, went with the PWA, AISMK founder R Sarathkumar, who had pledged his support to the NDA less than a month ago backtracked and returned to AIADMK front. The IJK led by TR Pachamuthu that has minimal presence in some areas, too, announced that his party would join the NDA only if all erstwhile allies present during 2014 Lok Sabha elections return to it.
With this, the BJP is left only with a few caste-based outfits, exposing the hype created by its leaders about forging a strong alliance.
Asked about the party being left isolated without any ally ahead of the polls, BJP national secretary H Raja told Express :“ In 1989, when VP Singh government was toppled, no party had come forward to align with the BJP which had 86 MPs at that time. Asked about the BJP’s situation, the then party president LK Advani said ‘we enjoy this splendid isolation as we we can prove our strength on our own.’ Two years later, the BJP won 119 seats on its own in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections.”
According to him, majority of the 19.4 per cent votes that the alliance polled in the 2014 polls were cast for electing Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. “They were indeed pro-BJP votes. Now, due to the various welfare measures initiated for the poor and downtrodden people by the NDA government, BJP has reached out to the masses. We think that now we have an opportunity to prove our strength. So, like Advani said nearly two and half decades ago, ‘we also enjoy the splendid isolation to prove our strength.’”
Meanwhile, after its failure to get any of the bigger outfits failed, the party has decided to move on to prepare for the upcoming election. State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan and others held discussions with party’s national president Amit Shah who was in Chennai on Wednesday.
Sources said the leaders from the State would visit Delhi on March 25 to finalise the party’s strategy for the Assembly elections, election manifesto and candidates list.