Elections would be held in West Bengal, Assam, Puducherry, Kerala and Tamil Nadu state in May. As per surveys, BJP might lose Tamil Nadu, hence the BJP is changing its strategy. The party mulls taking a strategic decision against Chinamma who is likely to dent the chances of AIADMK.
Jayalalitha’s trusted aide Chinamma Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala alias Sasikala is in jail over charges of corruption. She is likely to be released on the 27th of this month. Sasikala took over the responsibility of AIADMK after the death of Jayalalitha and thought to become the chief minister. However, in the wake of a sudden change in the situation, she had to go to jail. She is coming out after four years. Her nephew Dinakaran formed the party Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. The BJP is unable to digest this party now. There are followers of Shashikala in AIADMK. At this time when the elections are nearing and if she takes over the party responsibilities, she would target the AIADMK and BJP and this would lead to split in the party’s votes.
In Tamil Nadu, instead of the BJP’s principle of Hindutva, Make in India slogans, the sentiments like Jayalalitha’s name, Sasikala’s followers leave an impact. This happened earlier too. There are talks that the BJP has sent some emissaries. It is reported that the BJP leaders were in talks with Dinakaran for the last couple of days.
There has been a pause in the Tamil Nadu politics after the deaths of stalwarts like Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi. There is no leader with that sort of image in the state. The BJP and AIADMK have been in power since 2016 and Stalin alone is the leader now. Though there are leaders like Panneerselvam and Palaniswami there should be a big shot to face Stalin. There are four factors which make Sasikala important politically. One is to make the Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam fight against AIADMK-BJP, aligning with principal opponent DMK or coming along with AIADMK and BJP alliance. It has become a topic of discussion whether the people would give AIADMK the third chance consecutively especially after they gave two consecutive chances for a party after 30 years.
Palaniswami had clearly said in Delhi that they will not accept Sasikala joining the party. However, BJP leaders are not taking these comments seriously. If Sasikala wants to join the party, they will not hesitate and they feel that there will not be any problem in convincing Palaniswami. In this perspective, it said that BJP has sent few leaders for talks.
