BJP's new Tamil Nadu plan: Bring AIADMK, Dhinakaran together

With the plan to get Rajinikanth launch his own political party up in smoke, the BJP is now working on Plan B: bring the ruling AIADMK and its splinter group AMMK, led by V K Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dhinakaran, for an electoral understanding ahead of Tamil Nadu polls.

Sources in the know told DH that the top brass of the saffron party, specifically Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is believed to have broached the topic of an “understanding between the two” with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday.

“The BJP feels the AIADMK and AMMK should work together in the 2021 polls to put up a very tough fight against the DMK. The proposal has been mooted by the Delhi leadership,” a source said.

EPS not in favour of the proposal

The proposal of Dhinakaran's AMMK joining the AIADMK-led alliance accepting Palaniswami as the chief ministerial face is not going down well with the CM. The source added that incumbent Palaniswami, who has established his position within the government and the party, is red-flagging the proposal.

“As expected, the Chief Minister is not in favour of the proposal. He has his own reasons to oppose as he feels any understanding with Dhinakaran or Sasikala will undermine his position within the party in the long run. Anyway, what is being proposed now is just an electoral understanding, leaving the issue of leadership to be sorted out after elections,” the source added. It was Sasikala who chose EPS as CM before she went to jail in 2017.

That Palaniswami is not in favour of taking back Sasikala or Dhinakaran into the party fold was evident during his brief interaction with the media in New Delhi on Tuesday.

“No chance. 100 per cent. She is not even in AIADMK,” he said, when asked about the possibility of working with Sasikala after she walks out of Parappana Agrahara prison on January 27.

Another source told DH that such an understanding would ensure that the core AIADMK votes do not get split.

“The influence of the AMMK, particularly in southern Tamil Nadu, cannot be ignored and hence the BJP wants an electoral understanding between the two to ensure votes getting split. More discussions will happen in the next few weeks. A clear picture will emerge only in the first or second week of February,” the second source said.

The AMMK, led by Dhinakaran, brought into the AIADMK by Sasikala just hours before she left for Bengaluru to surrender before authorities at the Parappana Agrahara prison in February 2017, scored 5.25 per cent of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

After the defeat, Dhinakaran has hardly addressed any public meeting in the past year, though other parties like the DMK, the AIADMK, and the MNM have already launched their election campaign. This is not the first time that the BJP is playing the mediator in bringing two factions of the AIADMK together. In 2017, the BJP played the role in getting EPS and his now deputy O Panneerselvam to work together again.

Nothing discussed vis-a-vis Sasikala in party forums

The sources said the BJP came with the idea of bringing the two factions together after it did not find “politically viable” the formation of a third front in Tamil Nadu.

“The idea of an alternate front with AMMK, PMK, DMDK, BJP, and other smaller parties was shot down by the top brass of the saffron party. This was possible even if Rajinikanth had allowed members of his Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) to contest in just 40 to 45 seats,” they said.

Though a few AIADMK leaders acknowledged in private about the BJP's proposal, they told DH that the top brass of the party – EPS and OPS – have not initiated any discussion regarding Sasikala or Dhinakaran within the party forums.

“EPS or OPS have not brought the issue to the second-rung leadership of the AIADMK. So far, no discussion has taken place on Sasikala and her family members in our party forums. Re-inducting them just before elections might cause major confusion and will give a handle for the DMK to target us,” a senior AIADMK leader, who is part of several committees, told DH on condition of anonymity.