Is EPS struggling hard to send a loud message to the BJP on power sharing?

Three months after renewing the relationship with the BJP, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami set out on a statewide tour campaigning for next year’s assembly polls. Palaniswami’s tour began from Coimbatore in West Tamil Nadu, one of AIADMK’s strongholds, titled, Makkalai Kaappom, Thamilagathai Meetppom (Lets protect the people, lets redeem Tamil Nadu). 

While Palaniswami has been taking on the DMK and chief minister M.K. Stalin during the public meetings, standing high on a podium specially made for him high on a specially designed campaign vehicle, the most important issue concerning the party cadres and office bearers is AIADMK renewing its relationship with the BJP. While it was considered to be a formidable alliance in the beginning, when EPS rushed to Delhi and when Amit Shah announced it at a star hotel in Chennai, the AIADMK cadres have their own apprehensions. “In these 15 days our leader has been forced to clarify every now and then that we are leading the alliance and BJP is part of the AIADMK alliance. But there is no clarity on this yet as the BJP has been maintaining that it will be a coalition government,” a senior AIADMK leader and a former minister based in Chennai told THE WEEK, on conditions of anonymity.

In fact while speaking at Chidambaram on July 17, EPS came up with a direct clarification, “There will be no power sharing. EPS will be the Chief Minister. The AIADMK will form the government.” Yet again while speaking at a meeting at Thiruthooraipoondi he went a step ahead and said, “We are not fools to go for power sharing. AIADMK will form a majority government.”

While the AIADMK leader said that this was a message to Stalin and the DMK leaders who are trying to set a narrative against the AIADMK-BJP alliance, political observers feel that this was a message to the BJP high command in Delhi. On July 22, in an interview to one of the English dailies, EPS clarified yet again saying, “no coalition government. AIADMK will form a majority government.”

But in the past 15 days, since he set out on a statewide tour the BJP high command has been maintaining that it will be a NDA government if the alliance wins the elections. In his interviews and press conferences, Amit Shah had reiterated that “NDA will form the government.” The BJP leaders in the state -be it Nainar Nagendran or seniors like Tamilisai Soundararajan or Vanathi Srinivasan - have said that the high command will decide on power sharing.

But behind EPS’s continuous clarifications and the BJP’s statements lies a political hardline which is harmful for the AIADMK. “Endorsing the idea of a coalition government will disturb our voter base. Our cadres are not happy,” says the senior leader. BJP’s idea of coalition government or NDA government in Tamil Nadu seems to have already disturbed the AIADMK workers at the grassroots who have always had a strong unitary leadership and won a majority of the core Dravidian voter base in the state since 1972.

In fact AIADMK’s former organising secretary Anwar Raajhaa who joined the DMK on Monday said that the AIADMK is entangled by the BJP. “People like me do not want to endorse this statement of Anwar Raajhaa publicly. But this is running in the minds of every AIADMK cadre,” the former minister said.

Incidentally, Amit Shah’s statements on a coalition government has trailed the fortunes of the alliance since its formation in April. “If AIADMK leadership has decided that it will not be a coalition government, he has to sit with the BJP high command in Delhi, discuss and clarify it with them. He cannot be speaking at the public meetings and conveying messages,” says a senior BJP leader.

However Palaniswami’s bid to reactivate AIADMK’s voter base in the state, through his people outreach programme, instead of rejuvenating the party cadres has only made apparent the internal strife in the NDA in Tamil Nadu. Marked by mutual mistrust and lack of coordination, more than the outreach Palaniswami seems to be struggling hard to position himself and the AIADMK as the big brother in the alliance.

India