Chennai: The Telugu and Kannada speaking population of Tamil Nadu are getting to see unfamiliar faces speaking in a familiar language in their streets, canvassing votes for the BJP.BJP has deployed about 60 functionaries from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka to reach out to an estimated 81 lakh Telugu and Kannada speaking voters Tamil Nadu. For now, BJP has deployed about 60 ‘Pravasi Karyakartas’, senior functionaries who temporarily relocate to a specific state for election. The team, comprising former lawmakers from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana — include some prominent names such as former MP Garikapati Mohan Rao, former minister Ketepalli Janardhan Reddy and former MLA NVSS Prabhakar Reddy. They arrived in Chennai early this week. The team would focus on 75 constituencies spread across several districts, particularly in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Theni and Virudhunagar. BJP leaders say Telugu-speaking communities such as the naidus, reddiar, naicker and raju are largely concentrated in these districts. There are kannada speakers in districts bordering Karnataka. With chief minister M K Stalin trying to electorally tap Tamil pride, BJP leaders said the outreach seeks to engage voters who feel less aligned with the strong pro-Tamil positioning of parties such as DMK and NTK. “These leaders are experienced in converting support into votes. Along with Yuva Morcha (youth wing) and Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) cadres, they have begun field assessments and will take up door-to-door outreach,” a senior party functionary said. The campaign is centred on engaging voters in their mother tongue, he said. The move follows a March 6 meeting in Chennai chaired by BJP national organisation secretary B L Santhosh with 150 leaders from south states, where Tamil Nadu unit was asked to focus on linguistic minority voters. Since then, BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran has held interactions with groups, including the All India Telugu Federation. Federation president CMK Reddy said a charter of demands was submitted, including implementation of a Sept 2023 Supreme Court ruling to facilitate teaching of Telugu alongside Tamil in all Tamil Nadu schools. “The state govt has set up an Urdu academy through a legislative Act for Muslims, who form 4%–5% of the population. However, despite earlier assurances, it has not established a Telugu academy,” he said.
