Chennai: BJP national president J P Nadda’s visit to Chennai on Sunday, besides evoking anger among party cadre over the Chennai police denying permission for the proposed rally, is expected to present at least a hazy picture of the electoral line up for the Lok Sabha polls as it would be known by then as to which are the parties that would like to be part of NDA.
Since the coming Lok Sabha polls are likely to see a broadly three-cornered contest with the DMK, AIADMK and BJP leading three different fronts, many of the parties that were earlier with the AIADMK-led coalition in the State have not yet announced their next move - to align with the BJP or the AIADMK – after the two leaders partners parted ways.
Those who would go with the BJP would be seen lining up for a meeting with Nadda at the hotel where he will hold indoor meetings.After arriving in Chennai by afternoon, Nadda will first meet his party functionaries, particularly the members of the various committees formed for the Lok Sabha elections and also the top leaders in the State to have a hang of the situation in the State.
Then when he meets allies, several leaders are expected to call on him and express their desire and also negotiate the terms for a tie-up. Among the prominent leaders whose visit has been confirmed is former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who has already declared that an alliance led by the BJP would sweep the elections, indicating that he will also be part of it.
Another leader is A C Shanmugham of the New Justice Party, who told media persons in Chennai that he would contest the Lok Sabha election from Vellore in the ‘Lotus’ symbol, confirming his loyalty to the BJP. Other leaders expected to meet Nadda and pledge their support to the NDA are T R Pachamuthu of the IJK and probably T T V Dinakaran of the AMMK.
Later in the evening, Nadda would address a public meeting at the Mint area in North Chennai. The public meeting was organized as part of the ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ yatra of BJP State president K Annamalai that was to traverse through Chennai after covering 200 Assembly constituencies in other parts of the State.
But then with the police denying permission for the yatra to be taken inside Chennai on the ground that it would cause traffic disruptions, BJP leaders had to settle only for the meeting at Mint, which too was earlier rejected, forcing them to change the venue to a school on Poonamallee High Road within Chennai. However, after negotiations the police agreed for the venue in the Mint area.
Two of the erstwhile NDA partners who might not call on Nadda are the PMK and DMDK as the AIADMK is said to have finalized its alliance with them by agreeing to a sizable number of seats as demanded by them.
Spokesman of the State BJP, Subramania Prasad, in a statement demanded permission from the DMK government for his party to organize the yatra through all the constituencies in Chennai city to enable Annamalai cover all the 234 constituencies before concluding the yatra on February 25 with a public meeting at Palladam in Tiruppur district.
