BJP's plan for Tamil Nadu: Project Modi as Amma's Anna

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which tried its best to woo AIADMK supremo late Jayalalithaa for an alliance in the last general elections but failed despite the rapport between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Tamil Nadu chief minister, is now exploring ways to strengthen its position in the southern state with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

With uncertainty lingering over voters mood in Uttar Pradesh assembly election, scheduled early next year, the party is working hard to dig its heels in the southern state which could provide them crucial numbers in the next Lok Sabha elections to retain its single largest majority party position at the Centre.

In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had also tried its luck with smaller political parties in Tamil Nadu but it didn’t yield dividends. It won only one Lok Sabha seat out of 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.  

BJP’s plot to broaden its south Indian base over the next couple of years is ready. The implementation of the exercise is also underway. The party’s strategy is to first upgrade its support base from below 10% to 20%, and strive to win elections on its own in urban areas such as Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Selam, Chennai and so on.

Tamil Nadu has the largest number of cities and the party is banking on winning in the urbanised city areas. Its target is to make itself relevant in states such as Kerala.

Secondly, the state has around 65% OBC population. Given the prime minister’s OBC background, the party strategists feel this factor will also be a big potent instrument in the state’s politics. 

Thirdly, with Jayalalithaa’s demise, there is a vacuum in AIADMK in the absence of a charismatic leader who can hold and lead the party. The party leaders believe it can play a crucial role by projecting Modi’s face as Amma’s Anna.

“Visualise the banners, with Modi’s face spread across the banner and Jayalalithaa’s image in the background,” said a BJP leader excitedly.

“The AIADMK is looking for friendly relations with the BJP because Modi’s face and stature can only add value to the party,” said a BJP leader.  The party is also desperate to align with the AIADMK because of its political shortcomings of not being able to give a significant fight to Karunanidhi or Stalin on its own.

 BJP definitely holds Jayalalithaa in high esteem for her courage to stand by Modi. 
“Our party could align with the DMK but Jayalalithaa stood by Modi when he was not welcome by many,” said a BJP leader 

Fourthly, the BJP’s newest mantra is “when she is not there at least be a part of her legacy”. The state has no baggage of assembly elections for the next four years. Some BJP leaders are visualising a scenario where they will no longer have to wait for Amma’s prasad as far as ticket distribution is concerned.

The BJP also has its Plan B ready. With Jayalalithaa gone and DMK leader Karunanidhi also not keeping well, the BJP is mulling on urging cine star Rajnikant to take the plunge into politics in a filmy entry so that it can have a bigger say in the alliance. 

When demonetization of high denomination currencies was announced, Rajnikant was the first person to tweet in support of Modi. Rajnikant and Modi have good personal rapport but its political gain will come only if Rajnikant takes the plunge into politics.

The matinee idol is not a man in a hurry. Together with uncertainty over whether Rajnikanth has any political ambition there is also uncertainty whether he would like to join the BJP or float his own party. 

There are many other south Indian stars who are also supposed to be nourishing political ambitions such as Vishal, Capt Vijaykanth, who is believed to have lost his steam following 2014 polls. 

BJP’s national spokesperson GVL Rao said, “We will continue to maintain good rapport with AIADMK. Modi’s face and the fact that he is the messiah of the impoverished will go a long way in the country.”