Amit Shah on day-long visit in TN today

Hoping to capitalise on the “political void” created due to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death, BJP President Amit Shah will give a pep talk to his party cadre here on Monday to boost their morale ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Shah will be in Tamil Nadu on a day-long visit, his first after Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016 and will address booth-level functionaries’ meet on the outskirts of the city on Monday morning. His earlier plans to visit Tamil Nadu were cancelled twice.

“Amit Shah ji will address 10,000 party functionaries who are booth-level workers on Monday. Since this is the first time, our chief will be addressing the cadre in Chennai, everyone is enthused,” BJP state chief Tamilisai Soundararajan said.

During his speech on Monday, Shah is expected to throw light on BJP’s strategy in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha polls. The party is facing heat from Opposition for allegedly being behind the AIADMK government in implementing all policies of the Union Government.

The BJP, which formed a rainbow coalition in 2014 by bringing together several parties, managed to win just one seat and its ally, the PMK, one. With 2019 Lok Sabha polls approaching, the party is looking to form another coalition by roping in new players like actor Rajinikanth, who has announced his intention to enter electoral politics.

Shah’s speech is also being keenly awaited in political circles since he is expected to give a clarity on whether the party will contest 2019 polls as part of an alliance, alone or leading an alliance. The BJP hardly has any base in Tamil Nadu and it has been near-untouchable for Dravidian parties for the past one decade.

However, things have changed after Jayalalithaa’s death. The AIADMK is perceived close to the BJP, which had made public its efforts to bring together both factions of the ruling party in August last year.