Chennai: Stopping short of issuing an ultimatum to the BJP, former Chief Minister EPS on Wednesday announced the candidate for the by-election to the Erode Assembly Constituency, forcing the AIADMK's national ally to decide on which side of the fence it stands. Determined to prove his hold over the party and among the electorate, EPS is fielding former legislator KS Thennarasu, a local strongman, for the February 27 election.
In the evening, OPS followed suit and announced Senthil Murugan, a greenhorn, as the candidate of his faction. "We will withdraw from the contest if the BJP fielded its nominee," OPS reiterated.
Despite the uncertainty over getting the iconic party symbol “Two Leaves”, EPS has gone ahead in naming the candidate without waiting for the saffron party's support. “The change towards progress will commence from Erode East,” the former Chief Minister said in a tweet congratulating Thennarasu on securing the party ticket. His faction has moved the supreme court seeking a direction to the Election Commission to allot the party symbol and the case is slated to come up on Friday. The EC too has been directed to file its response by then.
The EPS faction's decision has come as a bolt in the blue for the BJP. For, only the other day, BJP state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathi said, “Let the AIADMK wait for our decision. There is nothing wrong with it. We are holding talks with all concerned and our party's stand will be made known in a day or two.”
Also read: TN Bypoll: Not only AIADMK symbol, uncertainty clouds even party name
According to BJP sources, the party was waiting for the outcome of the symbol case in the apex court and state president Kannamalai had been maintaining that the saffron party is unlikely to enter the contest. “The AIADMK is the bigger partner of the NDA in the state and the BJP would have to adhere to coalition dharma,” he had said.
In this, analysts say that the BJP was tilting in favour of EPS. For, of the 66 legislators, EPS has the support of 62 besides an overwhelming majority of the party functionaries. Further, the Erode is in the Kongu region (western Tamil Nadu), where the OBC Goundar to which EPS belong to, is the dominant community. Whereas OPS, a BOC Thevar, hails from the south and has negligible support in the region.
Initially, it was OPS who had landed the BJP in a trap by saying that his faction would withdraw from the contest in the event of the BJP throwing its hat in the ring. “BJP is a national party and the LS polls are on the horizon. As such, it was appropriate for the BJP to contest,” was his rationale. Both factions have sought the support of the BJP.
“The BJP, which had been riding two horses thus far, now finds itself in a corner. Its usual strategy of treating both factions on equal footing appears to have come unstuck and it has to take a call. With both factions laying claim to the AIADMK symbol, the prospects of it remaining frozen looks bright. And the BJP might find an escape route in this by saying that it would support the faction which has the symbol. Annamalai too is hinting at that,” explains R Thirunavukkarasu, teaching Sociology at the University of Hyderabad. “No more the saffron leadership can treat both the factions as equals. But, whatever might be the decision of the BJP, it will certainly have a bearing on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
