Chennai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Tamil Nadu, yet another time, on Monday. And on Monday, his visit coincided with the BJP gaining a crucial ally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

The party would firm up electoral ties with the BJP-led NDA, and a formal announcement on the number of Lok Sabha constituencies and the candidates to be fielded would be made by PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, PMK general secretary Vadivel Ravanan said.

“The PMK’s general council has authorised party founder Dr S Ramadoss to announce the decision on the alliance. Today, he announced at the executive committee and meeting of district officer bearers on the decision to face the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the BJP,” Ravanan told reporters here.

This comes as a boost to the BJP, as so far it has been floundering without any partners while the ruling DMK party had crystallised its alliance with its traditional partners — Congress, VCK, the two communist parties, and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

PMK, a party of the vanniyar community, is strong in the northern districts of the State, and it has the capacity to make a difference. Both AIADMK and BJP had been wooing PMK, and in the last few days, PMK has been swinging like a pendulum between the two larger parties.

It is understood that the PMK leader, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, a former Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare (in the Vajpayee government), has been informally assured of a position as a central Minister of State with independent charge if he wins. His father and the founder of PMK, Dr S Ramadoss, is said to have been dead against the party hitching up with BJP, feeling that such an alliance would spoil the party’s chances in the state assembly elections of 2026. But the son seems to have prevailed for now.

Modi’s visit to Coimbatore is happening against this backdrop. He has visited the State well over 50 times as the Prime Minister, and, as the elections are approaching, his visits have become more frequent.

Clinching a deal with PMK would be crucial. BJP has had a few successful deals in recent weeks. Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), led by GK Vasan (son of late GK Moopanar, a Congress strongman who was once briefly considered to be a PM candidate), and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Katchi (AMMK), led by TTV Dhinakaran, a former AIADMK leader and a close aide of Jayalalithaa’s controversial friend, Sasikala. Also, actor Sarathkumar, who belongs to the influential and wealthy Nadar community, recently merged his All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi with BJP. None of these parties is big (though, AMMK can move the needle a bit among the Mukkulathor communities of the southern districts), but their presence in the BJP bandwagon adds some heft to the national party. 

So, where does BJP stand today? 

The BJP is gaining vote share in the state. For years, Tamil Nadu has regarded BJP as a north Indian ‘Hindi’ party and treated it with undisguised contempt. Even as lately as in 2019, there was a raw hatred for Modi. Not so now. A Ashvathaman, State Secretary, BJP, Tamil Nadu, told businessline that Modi’s image has changed from a ‘villain’ (“which was due to the false propaganda of the Dravidian parties”) to a ‘hero’. 

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