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BJP makes a climbdown, EPS as CM candidate has become a fait accompli

Left with no other option, the BJP has made a U-turn on the question of Chief Ministerial nominee for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly poll by accepting the AIADMK's choice of incumbent Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS). Superstar Rajinikanth's decision to opt-out of politics has shattered the hopes of the saffron brigade to ride on his celluloid charisma, exposing the BJP's feet of clay in the state, dominated by Dravidian politics for more than half a century. Within days of the AIADMK General Council endorsing the candidature of EPS, BJP General Secretary CT Ravi had told newspersons in Trichy on Monday that the AIADMK, being the bigger partner in the alliance, would decide the CM face. Only a fortnight ago, he had maintained that it was the NDA Central leadership which would take a call on this issue, writes M C Rajan, Bureau Chief, Tamil Nadu, ETV Bharat.

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Published : Jan 11, 2021, 10:47 PM IST

Chennai: In a major climbdown, the BJP has come around to accept the reality that it is the prerogative of its Dravidian ally, the AIADMK, to decide on the question of Chief Ministerial candidate for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Giving up the claim that only the NDA leadership could take a call on the matter, BJP national general secretary C T Ravi on Monday made it clear that the ruling AIADMK was well within its right to declare its nominee.

This U-turn comes close on the heels of superstar Rajinikanth opting out of politics and the AIADMK General council endorsing the candidature of incumbent EPS as its face for the polls. Ever since the 11-member Steering Committee of the AIADMK announced EPS as the CM nominee in October last, the BJP had lost no opportunity to arrogate to itself the right to have its choice as the CM face of the alliance. Central leaders of the saffron party, including Prakash Javadekar, have lent credence to it. Ravi, a firebrand of the saffron camp, had more than once had stated this explicitly.

This has led to a war of words between the allies with the AIADMK throwing the gauntlet at the BJP, albeit without naming it, that parties unwilling to accept EPS would have no place in the alliance. Senior AIADMK leader KP Munusamy, party's Deputy Coordinator, had gone to the extent of basting the BJP at the party fora. “National parties are of no consequence in Tamil Nadu. Without any base, they were riding on the back of the AIADMK and the DMK,” was his outburst at the General Council meeting. Earlier, he had accused 'a cabal of being engaged in vanquishing the Dravidian movement right from the days of Periyar EV Ramasamy and CN Annadurai'.

Now, Ravi had made a plain-speak saying that it is the AIADMK's right. “As the dominant party in the alliance, the AIADMK will have its choice of CM candidate. The criticism of Munusamy and others is immaterial since EPS and OPS (Dy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam) are unwavering in the alliance with the BJP,” the BJP leader told reporters at Trichy after darshan at the famed 6th century Rock Fort temple.

For the BJP, it was a moment of reckoning when movie moghul Rajinikanth announced that he was not taking the political plunge, citing health concerns. Till then, the party had pinned its hope on the film star. Once that hope had vanished, it had to confront reality.

“In Rajinikanth, the rightwing has lost a trump card. Now, the BJP has no option left. It can only pressurise the AIADMK to a certain extent but can't extract. It has to accept the AIADMK as the dominant partner. For, there were enough voices in the AIADMK opposed to any alliance with the BJP. As such, this is the natural course for the BJP,” is how Professor Ramu Manivannan, Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration looks at the BJP Changing its tune.

Concurring with him, political observer Sreenivasan Ravichandran says, “The BJP in Tamil Nadu has been punching above its weight. Once Rajinikanth opted out, the BJP had no other choice and it had exposed its feet of clay in the state where it had only around 3 per cent vote share. The BJP had to eat its words and keep the alliance intact,” he reasoned. With the BJP toning down its rhetoric and accepting EPS candidature, it is expected that it will be a smooth ride in seat-sharing negotiations.

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