Reunions are usually joyful affairs. But it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that will be happier after rejoining hands with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for the battle for Tamil Nadu next year. This is because with this political reunion, the BJP has managed to kill many birds with one stone. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP is yet to become a force to reckon with. The AIADMK presents the BJP with the crutch that it needs to make its presence felt in a state that has been dominated by the two Dravidian parties. Moreover, Tamil Nadu, given the allegations against the BJP for its designs to impose Hindi or push through the controversial delimitation exercise, will prove to be a tough wicket for the saffron party. Hence its need for cover in the form of the AIADMK. In fact, given the poise adopted by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on these two issues, the AIADMK — not the BJP — could well turn out to be collateral damage. The BJP’s optics of leading a truly national coalition also stand to get bolstered with the presence of the AIADMK, a major southern force, in its kitty. The alliance would also clip the AIADMK’s ability to take independent positions on contentious issues; the AIADMK’s Rajya Sabha representatives had voted against the Waqf Bill. The only consolation for the AIADMK out of its patch-up with the BJP has been the removal of K. Annamalai: it had no love lost with the former BJP state president. E.K. Palaniswami, who will lead the National Democratic Alliance’s charge, must be relieved too, given that Mr Annamalai was eyeing his regional turf. But Mr Palaniswami must ensure that the BJP does not gobble up a fractured AIADMK in the near future.
Tamil Nadu may witness a straightforward battle between the two competing national alliances, NDA and INDIA. What, then, of the fence-sitters? Would the Tamizha Vetri Kazhagam, the mint-new outfit headed by a popular actor, join the two warring camps? Or would the TVK and other independent parties chart their own course? The answers to these and other intriguing questions may become clear as the polls draw closer.
