CHENNAI: The BJP’s continued hesitation in recognising Edappadi K Palaniswami as the CM candidate for the 2021 Assembly elections may affect the vote transfer of AIADMK supporters to the BJP when the elections are held after a few months, according to political analysts who say the AIADMK cadre are annoyed at the way the BJP is handling the issue.
For around three months, Tamil Nadu state BJP leaders have been maintaining that the CM candidate of the alliance should be announced by the party’s national leadership and it drew sharp reactions from the AIADMK functionaries. But when senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar didn't answer repeated questions whether BJP will accept its ally AIADMK naming Palaniswami as the CM candidate on Friday, it sparked a fresh bout of suspicions over the continuance of alliance between the two parties.
On November 21, AIADMK top brass -- Palaniswami and Panneerselvam announced the continuance of alliance with the BJP in the presence of the party’s election strategist Amit Shah. However, even after a month was over, the BJP did not respond to the AIADMK and delayed recognition of Palaniswami as the CM candidate.
This attitude of the BJP has literally irked the AIADMK functionaries and the grassroots level cadre. Former MP and AIADMK’s minority wing secretary Anwar Razza said if the BJP continued with its present attitude, it would affect the ‘vote transfer’ to the BJP candidates during the elections. "When there is no mutual understanding between the cadre of the AIADMK and the BJP, the vote transfer to the latter won't take place. The AIADMK can withstand without the vote share of the BJP. But the BJP can't,” he added.
Anwar Razza said: “We have announced Palaniswami as our CM candidate. Other parties are our alliance partners. If they agree on Palaniswami as the CM candidate, they can continue in the alliance or take their own decision. If the BJP wishes to decide who is the CM candidate, let them contest in all 234 constituencies and announce their own CM candidate. As a party functionary, I have requested the party to go it alone.”
AIADMK spokesperson G Samarasam explained how the BJP’s attitude is wrong. “The BJP's delay in accepting Palaniswami as chief ministerial candidate shows that they are waiting for someone else. BJP should understand that Tamil Nadu has a unique political culture and the tactics it applied in other states won't work in Tamil Nadu."
Samarasam also said as far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, Dravidian parties are the major players. After 1967, Congress was unable to catch power in Tamil Nadu and BJP never was in power or a significant force in the State. As such, AIADMK is the major political party here and we have announced Palaniswami as the Chief ministerial candidate.
Political analyst Tharasu Shyam said, "As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, only the State parties used to announce the CM candidate and the national parties are minor players here. Only one time - in 1980, DMK and Congress contested an equal number of seats. MP Subramanian, the then leader of the Congress in Tamil Nadu said whichever party won in more number of seats, it would propose the CM candidate. But DMK president M Karunanidhi opposed it and for the first time, Indira Gandhi announced Karunanidhi would be the CM candidate. However, "
"Due to its present attitude of the BJP, it may lose the cordial relationship with the AIADMK cadre at the hustings. The leaders of both parties may shake hands but the bitter feelings among the grassroots level cadre won't get erased and this will affect the BJP ultimately."
“The BJP is trying to lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu as it did in Bihar. But it won't work in Tamil Nadu since the party is a very minor ally here. In a nutshell, the BJP does not understand the psyche of Tamils,” Shyam added.