The BJP at the Centre, which was ambitious of opening its MLA account in the Tami Nadu Legislative Assembly succeeded with two wins and a lead in two more constituencies. While most of the BJP candidates failed to show an impressive performance, the first victory for the party came from Nagercoil constituency where BJP candidate MR Gandhi won defeating the DMK alliance candidate.
DMK state president L Murugan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File photo)
Chennai:
Though the BJP had increased its vote share performance from 2.84 per cent to around 3 per cent, the party has finally opened its account after a gap of almost 15 years.
BJP star candidate Nainar Nagendran who contested in Tirunelveli was leading by more than 22,000 votes. Meanwhile in Modakurichi C Saraswathi was leading by a narrow margin of 1,000 votes against her rival Subbalakshmi Jagadeesan of the DMK.
BJP national women’s wing leader Vanathi Srinivasan picked up some late lead in the night as the counting went on in the Coimbatore south seat against MNM’s Kamal Haasan.
Many BJP candidates lost pace after fifth round of counting, including harbour constituency candidate Vinoj Selvam.
“The ambitious BJP allied with the ruling AIADMK and was confident of opening its legislative account in the Dravidian state, a political status that has been evading the national party since 2006. But the party has finally opened its account in alliance with the AIDMK,” political commentator Durai Karuna said.
“The BJP has been a political untouchable in Tamil Nadu and Amma (Jayalalithaa) was keen that she never allied with the saffron party, but the AIADMK leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam forged an alliance with the BJP. The BJP is certainly a baggage in Tamil Nadu and it has affected the prospects of our party in the just concluded polls,” said an AIADMK candidate who lost from the Chennai region.
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