Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, struggling to find a foothold in the State is in a dejected mood as most of the party cadre is of the view that the Central leadership is not at all worried about strengthening the party in the Dravidian heartland. “The National Executive of the party which met recently at New Delhi did not discuss the issues haunting the Tamil Nadu unit. The Central leadership is worried more about Karnataka, Gujarat and other north Indian States. It was as if the BJP does not exist in Tamil Nadu,” said a senior Tamil Nadu leader, who took part in the New Delhi conclave.
The leader said that time is running out for the Tamil Nadu unit which is getting ready to face the lok Sabha election in 2019. “The Central leadership is preoccupied with elections in States which go to the polls in the year end and early 2018,” said the leader.
“The BJP national leadership is yet to take the Tamil Nadu unit seriously. Though party chief Amit Shah was expected to tour the State, his programme was cancelled twice,” pointed out the leader. “It is known to one and all that the present leadership of the Tamil Nadu BJP is incapable of lifting the party from the deep abyss. Unless the Central leaders take drastic measures and thoroughly revamp the party structure, there is no future for the BJP in Tamil Nadu,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.
Though the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had polled 18 per cent of the popular votes in the 2014 lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu, the alliance collapsed immediately after the election. The MDMK led by Vaiko turned a bitter critic of the BJP even before the swearing in of Narendra Modi as prime minister. Vaiko has taken a vow that he would unseat the BJP from power in the first available opportunity.
Doraiswamy Kuppuramu, a senior leader from Ramanathapuram, said that the party was yet to mobilise at least 1,000 workers in each assembly constituency. There are more than 6,60,000 polling booths spread out across 234 Assembly constituencies. “Amit Shah, national president, had emphasised the fact that the party should have at least 100 dedicated workers for each of these booths. That would have meant 6.6 million active BJP workers across the State. The party could poll just 1.1 million votes in the 2016 Assembly election against the 17 million votes polled by the AIADMK and the 13 million votes bagged by the DMK,” said Kuppuramu.
Another leader from the Cauvery Delta region, where the BJP has strong potential, repeated the charge that the State level leaders had let the party down in the State. “They could not build on charisma and good will Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Has in the State. The State leaders have taken the party Backwards,” said the leader from the Delta districts who too did not want to be named.
All leaders with whom The Pioneer interacted were of the view that the BJP in Tamil Nadu needs a thorough revamp. “The present leaders in Tamil Nadu do not want the BJP to grow in the State. Some of them are trying to get into Rajya Sabha through UP and MP where the BJP has enough numbers in the State legislatures,” said TS Sankaranarayanan, one of the senior leaders who was frank enough to point out that State leaders had filed defamation cases against each other on charges of corruption.
Kuppuramu said that the feelings of grass-root level workers should not be ignored. “They have genuine grievances and this should be addressed at the earliest,” he said.