After a hectic spree of matchmaking in the political arena – in both the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA formations – came the news of split between long-time allies BJP and AIADMK. The news did not come as a surprise for people following Tamil Nadu politics. AIADMK and the BJP were for long like a squabbling couple that stayed together for the sake of the children.
Though relations between the two parties have been fraying for a while, the trigger -- or the last straw for the AIADMK – was the remarks that the BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai made on CN Annadurai. Annadurai, or Anna as he is fondly known, was the first DMK Chief Minister and an ideological mentor for the AIADMK which split from the DMK in 1972. The party is named after Anna.
Rocky alliance
Without going into the veracity of Annamalai’s remarks, this was always a rocky alliance. A few months ago both the parties were happily poaching middle level leaders from each other. Leaders from both parties regularly took potshots at each other. Annamalai’s remarks in the past about corruption too caused more than flutter within the AIADMK.
These frictions were in existence even during the 2019 general elections when the alliance was on the verge of a split. It was averted by some last minute hectic parleys by some senior BJP leaders (Amit Shah and Piyush Goyal).
To assert its supremacy in the alliance, the AIADMK gave more tickets in 2019 to alliance partner Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) than the BJP.
The AIADMK leadership is more than happy to defer to the BJP’s top-level leadership (Narendra Modi and Amit Shah), but when it comes to Tamil Nadu it sees itself as a senior partner and keeps the TN BJP leadership at an arm’s length.
This obviously has not gone down well with the TN BJP especially with its aggressive and high profile chief Annamalai.
The BJP sees Tamil Nadu as a last bastion that remains to be conquered. Tamil Nadu’s politics has always marched to a different tune from that of national politics.
It perhaps is the only State whose politics is dominated by regional parties with national parties playing a very peripheral role.
The BJP posits itself as a viable alternative in the post Karunanidhi-Jayalalithaa era. So the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be a litmus test for Annamalai’s leadership skills.
Though for now AIADMK seems more relieved by the split with BJP, whether this split is a permanent one or just a cooling off period where squabbling couples are given time to mend their differences remains to be seen.