BJP makes an 'exception' in Tamil Nadu, sends signal to AIADMK faction

After dodging former AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and TTV Dinakaran, and refusing to meet with them, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made an exception in the case of AIADMK dissident KA Sengottaiyan, making the dominant faction of the AIADMK led by former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami distinctly uncomfortable.

The meeting between Sengottaiyan and Union Ministers Amit Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman does indicate that the BJP is not afraid to offend the Palaniswami faction and it is indeed keeping its options open with regard to the alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

After declaring the AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami as the leader of the NDA in Tamil Nadu and Chief Ministerial candidate of the alliance for the Assembly election next year, the meeting with Sengottaiyan makes it clear that the national party is willing to rethink its absolute support to Palaniswami following turmoil in the regional party, ridden with factionalism.

There is a call for reuniting all the factions, especially those who were expelled from AIADMK, as the general belief is that the NDA should not allow the anti incumbency votes to be split as that would be to the advantage of the ruling DMK.

But Palaniswami is worried that the other factional leaders are opposing him as the Chief Ministerial candidate. Not surprisingly, Sengottaiyan’s demand for bringing back the expelled leaders to strengthen the party saw him and his supporters being relieved from all their party posts last week.

Sengottaiyan had been opposed to Palaniswami since the alliance with BJP was formed last April. Last week he had closed reanks with three expelled leaders - O Paneerselvam, TTV Dhinakaran, VK Sashikala, who have also pitched for a united AIADMK. But Palaniswami will have none of it and he finds support in the BJP state president Nainar Nagendran who replaced K Annamalai to ensure a smooth alliance with Palaniswami's AIADMK.

Though Paneerselvam and Dhinakaran (Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam) were part of the NDA, they recently quit the alliance opposing Palaniswami’s leadership. Dhinakaran, who is closer to Annamalai, has even blamed Nagendran, who is close to Palaniswami, for his exit from the alliance.

Palaniswami, since the start of the renewed alliance in April, was opposed to not only taking back the expelled leaders into the party, but even including them in the alliance. He has so far remained silent about the call for reuniting the expelled leaders. Instead he claimed that there is an effort to break the party, and that such efforts would be foiled.

Many AIADMK cadres are now in confusion not knowing whether to respond to the call for unification or stay loyal to Palaniswami. Since the party's defeat in the 2021 Assembly election, it has not been able to regain its political strength. Cadres are unsure what would work for the party. They are also wary of the BJP trying to take advantage of the turmoil in the Dravidian party and weaken it further.

With the changing scenario in the AIADMK, the BJP, which seems to have an upperhand in the alliance, is noncommittal about its faith on Palaniswami as the leader of the alliance. Though Shah has often insisted on sharing of power in Tamil Nadu if the NDA won the election, Palaniswami clearly ruled it out. Since four others are opposed to his leadership, perhaps, the BJP could use the confusion in the AIADMK to get Palaniswami to commit to sharing power.