The BJP’s state unit, which put up a straight fight against the ruling party in the recently held bypolls to some local bodies, including Corporations, seems to be planning for 2016 after it tasted some victory in the April Lok Sabha polls though Jayalalithaa’s party netted 37 of the 39 seats here.
The civic bypolls were reduced to a BJP-AIADMK fight and ever since Jayalalithaa’s conviction, the saffron party is complaining of law and order situation day in and day out.
Interestingly, BJP is reportedly wooing actor Rajnikanth, apparently aiming to cash in on his star power to ensure a better performance in the next elections. The actor had earlier supported former Prime Minister A B Vajapayee’s river inter-linking efforts.
Neither the actor nor BJP have denied reports of the latter’s national president Amit Shah holding telephonic conversations with the star recently. The party has been facing a severe drought in the state Assembly, having been unable to return a legislator for over a decade.
AIADMK’s anticipation of smooth sailing in the 2016 elections seem to be a tough task with its chief in jail and the party virtually directionless.
This has led to speculation of a realignment of political equations, with MDMK leader Vaiko, a strong critic of Karunanidhi, softening his stand against the DMK leader.
A former DMK leader, who quit the party after he fell out of favour with Karunanidhi, Vaiko in his party’s recent conference did not attack the 90-year-old leader even as he welcomed DMK’s stand on a referendum on Eelam Tamils issue, seen as feelers by political observers.
While the 2016 polls is still 18 months away, managers in political parties have started their calculations, aiming to stop the AIADMK juggernaut that had been steamrolling them since 2011.
The M G Ramachandran-founded party has not lost a single election since the 2011 polls even as supporters and workers are keeping their fingers crossed over ‘Amma’ returning to the thick of action and steer the party from the perceived blot it had suffered on September 27 when she was convicted in the disproportionate assets case.
