<div align="justify">The BJP does not have a single legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, secured less than 3% of the votes in the 2016 state elections, and has no organisation worth mentioning in the state. Yet, since the death of Jayalalithaa, the BJP has been the biggest factor in determining the course of Tamil Nadu politics, playing its cards strategically to ensure that the AIADMK remains united – and under the saffron party’s thumb.<br /><br />It’s part of the Modi-Amit Shah plan to spread the party beyond the Hindi heartland and into the South. In Karnataka, it can potentially win elections. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP knows well that the state has been dominated by the two Dravidian parties and they will continue to do so. Therefore, it is imperative that in the next Lok Sabha elections, when it might need a clutch of seats from the South to make up for losses in the North, the party rides piggyback on the AIADMK. And to be able to ride piggyback in the Lok Sabha elections, the party has to be able to do some backseat driving in state politics.<br /><br />The BJP has tried earlier to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu, but that effort failed when actor Vijaykanth’s party, the DMDK, fizzled out in the 2016 assembly elections, with all of its candidates losing their deposits.<br /><br />“If it wants to strengthen the party in Tamil Nadu, the BJP does not have a choice but to ally with the AIADMK in the next elections. It has earlier challenged both AIADMK and DMK by forming other alliances, but they have all gone in vain”, says senior political analyst K S Chandrakumar.<br /><br />The plan to align with the AIADMK first emerged in 2011 when Jayalalithaa was preparing for assembly elections. But while the BJP was desperate for an alliance, political observers say that senior AIADMK leaders, including V K Sasikala, were not keen on it as they felt the BJP would in time begin to expand at their cost.<br /><br />Despite Jayalalithaa’s long friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even she was not keen to tie-up with the BJP in the 2014 general elections. In the event, Jayalalithaa ended up sweeping the Lok Sabha seats in the state, winning 37 of the 39, at the height of the Modi wave then spreading across the country.<br /><br />Not much would have changed for the BJP even after Jayalalithaa’s death, had Sasikala emerged at the head of the AIADMK. Like everybody else, the BJP, too, was stunned at the manner in which the Sasikala clan surrounded the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa at Rajaji Hall in Chennai just before her last rites, aimed at demonstrating that she, and her family, were the only heirs to the dead leader’s legacy.<br /><br />“The BJP thought that it could easily bring the AIADMK into its fold, but that seemed to be going in vain as Sasikala came to dominate the party soon after Jayalalithaa’s death,” said K Shankar, the north Chennai zonal secretary of PMK party.<br /><br />But when the Supreme Court convicted Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case and sent her to jail, the BJP got its opening, especially as it left the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions squabbling. The BJP used it well, insisting that the two factions unite and meeting their leaders several times in Delhi to ensure that they did.<br /><br />Although the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP denies the party had any role in the AIADMK factions’ merger, the Opposition DMK and Congress think the BJP has come to remote control the ruling party. “Both the AIADMK factions surrendered to the BJP,” DMK working president M K Stalin said. The Congress well knows the implication of this. “The BJP has ensured that the AIADMK stays united, because that’s key to ensuring that the party’s vote share of about 35% does not get split,” said S Kesavan, a senior Congress functionary.<br /><br />The BJP has also ensured that the united AIADMK removes Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the party so that they will not interfere with the alliance process.<br /><br />Modi’s encouraging tweet soon after the OPS-EPS merger showed up the BJP’s hand and glee at having perhaps added 37 AIADMK MPs to the NDA’s Lok Sabha tally.<br /><br />Up next on the BJP’s radar: Rajinikanth. If it can add the superstar’s fan base to the AIADMK’s vote base, it will have created a rainbow coalition that can easily beat anything the DMK-Congress combine puts up against it in 2019.</div>
<div align="justify">The BJP does not have a single legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, secured less than 3% of the votes in the 2016 state elections, and has no organisation worth mentioning in the state. Yet, since the death of Jayalalithaa, the BJP has been the biggest factor in determining the course of Tamil Nadu politics, playing its cards strategically to ensure that the AIADMK remains united – and under the saffron party’s thumb.<br /><br />It’s part of the Modi-Amit Shah plan to spread the party beyond the Hindi heartland and into the South. In Karnataka, it can potentially win elections. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP knows well that the state has been dominated by the two Dravidian parties and they will continue to do so. Therefore, it is imperative that in the next Lok Sabha elections, when it might need a clutch of seats from the South to make up for losses in the North, the party rides piggyback on the AIADMK. And to be able to ride piggyback in the Lok Sabha elections, the party has to be able to do some backseat driving in state politics.<br /><br />The BJP has tried earlier to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu, but that effort failed when actor Vijaykanth’s party, the DMDK, fizzled out in the 2016 assembly elections, with all of its candidates losing their deposits.<br /><br />“If it wants to strengthen the party in Tamil Nadu, the BJP does not have a choice but to ally with the AIADMK in the next elections. It has earlier challenged both AIADMK and DMK by forming other alliances, but they have all gone in vain”, says senior political analyst K S Chandrakumar.<br /><br />The plan to align with the AIADMK first emerged in 2011 when Jayalalithaa was preparing for assembly elections. But while the BJP was desperate for an alliance, political observers say that senior AIADMK leaders, including V K Sasikala, were not keen on it as they felt the BJP would in time begin to expand at their cost.<br /><br />Despite Jayalalithaa’s long friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even she was not keen to tie-up with the BJP in the 2014 general elections. In the event, Jayalalithaa ended up sweeping the Lok Sabha seats in the state, winning 37 of the 39, at the height of the Modi wave then spreading across the country.<br /><br />Not much would have changed for the BJP even after Jayalalithaa’s death, had Sasikala emerged at the head of the AIADMK. Like everybody else, the BJP, too, was stunned at the manner in which the Sasikala clan surrounded the mortal remains of Jayalalithaa at Rajaji Hall in Chennai just before her last rites, aimed at demonstrating that she, and her family, were the only heirs to the dead leader’s legacy.<br /><br />“The BJP thought that it could easily bring the AIADMK into its fold, but that seemed to be going in vain as Sasikala came to dominate the party soon after Jayalalithaa’s death,” said K Shankar, the north Chennai zonal secretary of PMK party.<br /><br />But when the Supreme Court convicted Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case and sent her to jail, the BJP got its opening, especially as it left the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions squabbling. The BJP used it well, insisting that the two factions unite and meeting their leaders several times in Delhi to ensure that they did.<br /><br />Although the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP denies the party had any role in the AIADMK factions’ merger, the Opposition DMK and Congress think the BJP has come to remote control the ruling party. “Both the AIADMK factions surrendered to the BJP,” DMK working president M K Stalin said. The Congress well knows the implication of this. “The BJP has ensured that the AIADMK stays united, because that’s key to ensuring that the party’s vote share of about 35% does not get split,” said S Kesavan, a senior Congress functionary.<br /><br />The BJP has also ensured that the united AIADMK removes Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran from the party so that they will not interfere with the alliance process.<br /><br />Modi’s encouraging tweet soon after the OPS-EPS merger showed up the BJP’s hand and glee at having perhaps added 37 AIADMK MPs to the NDA’s Lok Sabha tally.<br /><br />Up next on the BJP’s radar: Rajinikanth. If it can add the superstar’s fan base to the AIADMK’s vote base, it will have created a rainbow coalition that can easily beat anything the DMK-Congress combine puts up against it in 2019.</div>
