BJP President Amit Shah has authorised Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu to liaise with M Thambidurai and TTV Dinakaran from the Sasikala camp, just in case it turns against the BJP after the income tax raids on its health minister C Vijayabaskar, says R Rajagopalan.
Will the Bharatiya Janata Party seek votes from MLAs and MPs in the VK Sasikala camp for the presidential polls?
Will the BJP’s political strategy in Tamil Nadu be resolved at the national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar on April 16?
While the answer to those questions is still not clear, what is apparent is that the BJP leadership has taken serious note of the political developments in Tamil Nadu after the split of the AIADMK into two factions. The Election Commission has in fact refused to allow both the factions the use of the AIADMK’s two-leaves poll symbol.
The faction led by former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam and the Sasikala-led factions now have their own party symbols.
The BJP does not want to spoil its relationship with the Sasikala camp. So, BJP President Amit Shah has authorised Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu to liaise with M Thambidurai and TTV Dinakaran from the Sasikala camp, just in case it turns against the BJP after the income tax raids on its health minister C Vijayabaskar.
Even though the BJP needs the votes of its 122 MLAs and 40 MPs in the presidential elections, in reality the Sasikala camp will not ally with the BJP but will go along with the Congress and vote for the Left-led, Congress-supported candidate.
While Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had an informal discussion with Dr Maitreyan and Thambidurai on Wednesday inside Parliament House, sources in the BJP say that the party would prefer to ally with the OPS faction.
On Wednesday, the two factions of the AIADMK had separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside Parliament House. The PM told Dr Maitreyan that it was a sad commentary on the party that it split soon after the death of J Jayalalithaa and asked how it would survive after the vertical split. The PM also asked Thambidurai about the corruption allegations against six ministers of the AIADMK government. The PM is also believed to have asked the OPS group about its internal dynamics.
The presidential election is just three months away, by which time the Edappadi K Palanisamy government in Tamil Nadu is expected to collapse under its own weight due to corruption charges.
Image: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam. Photograph: Kind courtesy, O Panneerselvam's Twitter page.
