AIADMK struggles to shake off ‘BJP junior ally’ tag

Madurai: AIADMK president Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), during the ticket distribution to ally BJP, went out of his way to ensure that the BJP was seen as a junior partner in the alliance. EPS gave some of the toughest seats to BJP, denied key seats in Chennai where BJP may have had a chance and even ensured that former TN BJP chief K Annamalai would not contest the polls. EPS may have wanted to project that AIADMK was the big brother to BJP, but the script has gone awry.

In speech after speech, DMK has been going all out against BJP. AIADMK is being called a ‘puppet’ and ‘slave’ of BJP. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has been repeatedly saying that the current election is Tamil Nadu versus Delhi.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu polls: DMK bloc will win over 200 seats, AIADMK ‘dancing to BJP’s tunes,’ says Stalin

Statements made by BJP leaders during the campaign have given ammunition to DMK. For instance, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis’s purported statement while campaigning for Madurai South BJP candidate Raama Srinivasan that electing Srinivasan would help bring the Madurai Metro to life. The Centre had earlier rejected the proposal for a metro in Madurai for not being viable. DMK has seized on the remark and said that this was another instance of the Centre giving step-motherly treatment to the state. DMK has been claiming that the AIIMS being built in Madurai is also facing delays due to the Centre not allocating adequate funds.

The DMK’s election machinery is on an overdrive to paint the AIADMK-BJP alliance as part of the BJP/RSS game plan to take on Tamil Nadu that has to be resisted by the state’s people. DMK supporters have been running a whisper campaign that the RSS people were the ones who put up the posters and this was an attempt to show how the Sangh hated the state.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu elections: AIADMK will win with thumping majority, General Secretary will be next CM, says P Saravanan
Even candidates have been painted so. For instance, in Madurai Central constituency, AIADMK candidate Sundar C has been labelled as ‘Cinema Sanghi’ by DMK minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. There are other anonymous attacks too. For instance, a rumour was spread that Sundar would ban all meat shops in Madurai if he got elected as Madurai was a temple town. The rumour, which was floated on social media, led to hurried clarifications from the candidate that no such step would be undertaken. The DMK has, however, kept firing its claim that the state’s Dravidian identity and culture is at stake from the AIADMK-BJP alliance.