Last year at this time, the rank and file in Kamalalayam, headquarters of the state BJP unit, were discussing names of the probable successor of then state president of the party Tamilisai Soundararajan.
BJP Leader L Murugan (File Pic)
Chennai:
Then came a ‘surprise and shocker’ from the Delhi high command in March 2020 announcing L Murugan as TN state president. Murugan, who had started from the scratch, is now a confident saffron party leader in the state and had poached many political heavyweights from the opposition DMK and the Congress. In an interview to CS Kotteswaran, the BJP leader, while claiming that his party has registered a significant growth with a vote bank of 15 per cent in the state, said that in the absence of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, women voters are shifting towards the saffron party and we will make a mark in the 2021 Assembly polls.
The BJP’s vote share in TN is somewhere between 4 to 5 per cent as per the Election Commission records. Under your leadership has the party grown in term of vote share?
The popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the demise of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa is helping us. Today, BJP is a grounded party like the DMK and AIADMK with cadre in rural and urban pockets. My assessment and the party estimates are between 12 to 15 per cent vote share. Further, a majority of the women voters in the state do not like DMK leaders, M Karunanidhi and his son MK Stalin. We have gained their trust.
Politicians and celebrities like actor Khushbu, legislator Ku Ka Selvam and former deputy mayor Karate R Thiagarajan have shifted their loyalty to the BJP. Will they be given election ticket?
Politicians who have recently joined us will be acknowledged and recognised by the party. There is every possibility for such prominent functionaries to contest in the upcoming Assembly polls.
PM Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah campaign that they are against corruption and scams, but the BJP had aligned with the AIADMK whose leaders, including Jayalalithaa, have track record of conviction. Investigations are pending against a few state ministers too. Your comments?
Our leaders Modi and Amit Shah have zero-tolerance against corruption. The central agencies have conducted I-T raids and surprise checks in TN and if there is prima facie and conviction, we will stay away from such politicians.
Initially, the BJP had problems with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as the NDA’s CM candidate, but after a few weeks the issue was sorted out. Why this confusion?
It was not a confusion. It was a minor delay. We accepted Palaniswami as the NDA’s CM candidate when the AIADMK general council adopted a resolution in this regard.
Modi supporter Rajinikanth has made a U-turn on his party launch. Will the BJP seek his support since he had supported the party in the past?
We respect actor Rajinikanth’s political decision. We will not ask, but if the Superstar supports the NDA, we will welcome it with gratitude.
How ambitious is the BJP in Tamil Nadu and how many seats is the party eyeing in the AIADMK alliance. Will you contest n 2021?
We want to have double-digit MLAs in the next Assembly. So, we will plan accordingly. I will contest, but the constituency has not been identified yet.
The main Opposition DMK says that the BJP is anti-Tamils and the central schemes and proposals like GST, NEET, methane extraction and dam safety bill is against the interest of Tamil Nadu..
DMK leader Stalin signed the methane extraction MoU. Congress banned jallikattu and introduced the GST. Then NEET was again a brainchild of the Congress-DMK combine. This is like the pot calling the kettle black.
Cash for votes is something famous in TN and the Election Commission in its notifications had declared TN as a notified state with high voter inducements. How are you going to tackle this?
We will rely on brand Modi and the central schemes that have benefitted the state. PM Kisan Scheme, Mudra loans, free LPG cylinders, AIIMS hospital, 11 new medical college permission and the Rs 6,000 farmer assistance and farm loan waiver schemes will help us in the 2021 campaign.
Conversations