Though the national leadership of the BJP is yet to formally announce the agreement reached with the DMDK, PMK, MDMK, IJK, KMK, party’s senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that a rainbow alliance led by the BJP is in place in Tamil Nadu and the front would contest the election together.
But what turned out to be a pre-campaign bonanza for the BJP was the presence of a cross section of the Who’s Who in Chennai in the meeting organised by “Friends of the BJP", an organisation floated by a group of Chennai-based professionals. Educationists, former bureaucrats, chartered accountants, senior advocates of the Madras High Court, industrialists, business barons and film personalities, hitherto known for their apolitical stance turned up in large numbers to hear and interact with Naidu.
Dr G Visanathan, Founder and Chancellor of the elite VIT University was the pick of the day. Viswanathan, an alumni of Harvard University and who was in active politics from 1966 to 1996 was a minister in the governments led by MGR and Jayalalithaa. He was also a member of parliament . "I am not attached to any political party. But I came to attend this meeting out of my concern for India. I feel only Narendra Modi could save the country from its present dismal state of affairs," Viswanathan told the audience.
He pointed out that Gujarat is the only State in the country offering 24X7 power to even the villages. "India loses $68 billion per year because of power shortage. The manuifacturing sector, which is the backbone of the country's economy is in death bed because of power shortage. This could be resuscitated and revived only if India becomes like Gujarat," said Viswanathan.
Achievements made by Gujarat in the fields of education, agriculture, manufacturing, power generation and infrastructure sectors should be the role model for the country. "Modi alone could replicate and make this happen all over India," he said adding that he was not a member of the BJP or any other political parties.
Viswanathan also complimented the Tamil Nadu BJP leadership for forging an alliance in the State. "For the first time in Tamil Nadu, the people are getting the choice of an alternative to the DMK and the AIADMK. It is a commendable achievement," he said.
On his part, Naidu enthralled the audience with details of the all round progress registered by Gujarat under Modi's leadership during the last 12 years. "leading industrialist Rattan Tata has told other industrialists that if they have not invested in Gujarat, they are fools. The per capita income of Gujarat has shot up from Rs 19,823 to Rs 75,150 during the last ten years. The number of colleges in Gujartat increased from 442 to 1762 in the last ten years," said Naidu.
He pointed out that the Third Front and the Federal Front would renmain non-starters. “Can Mayawati’s BSP co-exist with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SPIJ Will Trinamool Congress be a part of an alliance in which the Communists are constituentsIJ asked Naidu.