JUST SPAMMING | Will the prodigal son return to the BJP fold?

The return of BJP State president K Annamalai from a sabbatical in the UK has not made much of a difference to the political tamasha in Tamil Nadu. Things are as bland as they were in his absence in that alley that he treads though a lot of changes have happened outside of it. Perhaps the only perceptible change in his political demeanor is his apparent preparedness to welcome a prodigal son. While it is believed that Annamalai was one of the reasons for AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami walking out of the NDA in September, 2023, it now appears that neither of the leaders would mind a patch up.

Of course, the rival camp, particularly the DMK party, had been proclaiming right from the day the two parties parted ways that the split was a farce and a strategic move and Palaniswami found it difficult to prove it otherwise. Though the two parties contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on their own and conceded all the 40 seats, including the lone Puducherry constituency, to the DMK alliance, both of them were targeting only the DMK for attacks and refrained from speaking ill of each other though they were technically rivals in the electoral arena.

Even to counter the charge of a secret pact between them, both parties, particularly the top honchos, were soft in their denials. After the debacle in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, both parties were trying to prove through some arithmetic or the other that they had fared better without the support of the other but never criticized the other. Though sections of leaders in both parties resented the snapping of ties as they felt that together they would have given a tougher fight to the DMK, the AIADMK or BJP never openly regretted the breaking up of the alliance but continued with their posturing.

In AIADMK, many leaders felt that the alliance that began soon after the passing away of J Jayalalithaa in December 2016 could have continued for the benefit of both the parties. But those at the top had different ideas. It is learnt that Palaniswami did not like the way he and his party was intimidated by the Big Brother and Annamalai actually believed that it was the BJP that was getting more votes for the coalition than the AIADMK. So, in 2023 when the by-election to the Erode East Assembly constituency was announced following the demise Congress MLA Thirumagn Evera, who had defeated the AIADMK candidate in the general elections, Annamalai wanted the seat for his party.

Though the convention is that the party that contested the general election in a constituency would be allotted the seat if there was a by-election, Annamalai thought that it would be an opportunity for the BJP to take on the Congress directly in an election in Tamil Nadu and prove his mettle. But Palaniswami was not for it and did not give in. So he announced his party candidate without consulting the alliance partners. It is also said that the AIADMK did not want the BJP to seek vote for its candidate despite the rival coalition indulging in a high wattage campaign with the DMK determined to not let the AIADMK clinch the seat.

It was the friction that started then subsequently led to Palaniswami snapping ties voluntarily one day and vowing never to join hands with the BJP again though he strategically refrained from criticizing the national party. Yet, as the DMK repeatedly pointed out, Palaniswami ensured that his statements and speeches never ruffled the BJP feathers. The BJP, too, reportedly instructed its functionaries to not hit out strongly at the AIADMK, perhaps hoping that Palaniswami who walked out of the alliance might return to the fold like the legendary Prodigal Son.

And it now looks like it might happen soon, going by the latest indications. One, when the entire opposition, including the DMK and its allies Tamil Nadu, was going for the jugular of the BJP, more particularly that of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Palaniswami maintained an eerie silence. Shah was being hauled over the coals by almost every party that was not in an alliance with the BJP for his unsavoury remarks against B R Ambedkar in Parliament. Some even pointed out that the AIADMK, which has a substantial Dalit vote bank, ran the risk of losing those votes for Palaniswamy’s deliberate silence on the derogation of Ambedkar.

When confronted by the media brigade all that he would say was that his party colleague D Jayakumar had expressed the party’s view. But all that Jayakumar had said was that Shah’s speech would have serious repercussions for the BJP. Even in that incident Palaniswami did not mention Shah’s name and did not speak against the BJP, which came handy for the rivals of AIADMK to raise their suspicion on a possible reunion of the two parties though the AIADMK itself had already proved that it stood by the BJP government.

One, it supported the Bills brought in Parliament to usher in a ‘One Nation, One Election’ system and two, it refused to join hands with the opposition seeking impeachment of Justice Sekhar Kumar of the Allahabad High Court for anti-Muslim remarks. Some time back, too, the suspension of a AIADMK leader and MLA Thalavai Sundaram for flagging off a RSS rally in Nagercoil was revoked in a huff.