The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : BJP meeting to discuss poll strategy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

BJP meeting to discuss poll strategy

T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI: When senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party meet at a seaside guesthouse on the outskirts of Chennai on Friday and Saturday, they will discuss electoral strategy to be adopted in the State. But, they will have to take a hard look at the present state of affairs in the party, if they are keen on building it as an important political force in Tamil Nadu.

At present, the party is without any friends, a familiar scenario till 1997. Though it aligned with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the Lok Sabha election last year, the ties between the two were never smooth at the State level. The outcome of the polls left not just the party without any parliamentary seat from Tamil Nadu but also its leaders with a feeling of "disgraceful defeat." The formal termination of the ties took place when the AIADMK regime arrested the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, in November last.

DMK in no mood to oblige

Now, the party is trying to re-establish its relationship with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which was its partner in the 1999 Lok Sabha and 2001 Assembly polls. A couple of weeks ago, the former Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, called on the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi. Though the meeting was then described as a "courtesy call," the political import of the meeting did not go unnoticed. However, the DMK is in no mood to oblige the party as it is keen on retaining the present composition of the Democratic Progressive Alliance, which includes the BJP's rivals, Congress and the Left. More than that, what weighs any potential partner is that the BJP's base in Tamil Nadu is very limited and it is nowhere near that of the Congress. It has some influence in pockets of Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Pudukottai and Chennai districts. Even in these areas, it is not clear how many seats the party can win on its own.

On the Sanakarcharya issue, the party, single-handedly, sought to highlight the "anti-Hindu" approach of the State Government. But, despite holding some dharnas and meetings, the State unit of the BJP could not make any political capital out of the issue.

So, the reality of the party's narrow base in the State and the need for enlarging it are expected to be borne in mind, while finalising the strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

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