BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday indicated that the party would lead the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu in 2016 Assembly election, but would go to the polls only after announcing the chief ministerial candidate.
Political circles here see this as a rebuff to the political ambitions of two of the BJP’s allies in the last Lok Sabha polls — the Pattali Makkal Katchi and actor Vijayakant-headed DMDK, who are vying to assert their dominance in the State NDA, more so after the Vaiko-led MDMK recently quit the alliance
At a press conference here, Mr. Shah struck a note of cautious optimism on the prospects of the NDA. He said he expected the NDA, in its present form in Tamil Nadu, to perform well in the next Assembly election.
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Mr. Shah was replying to questions from the media on the stability of the NDA in the State, when Vaiko’s MDMK had left the alliance and the PMK had announced that its leader and former Union Minister, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, would be the chief ministerial candidate. “It is still a long way though,” he said to a query.
Ruling out any indirect alliance with the AIADMK as “everything will come to the surface”, he pointed out how critical the BJP State leaders were about the (ruling AIADMK) government.
In reply to another question at the fag end of the press meet, he clarified that he did not criticise the Dravidian parties (ideologically). The criticism was only against the government’s performance, for which he had the right.
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Stating that some parties leave and new parties join an alliance, Mr. Shah said the NDA, which secured a record 19 per cent votes in Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha elections, was “generous” and “open” to new allies.
On the impression that the NDA was towing the United Progressive Alliance’s policies on Tamil Nadu fishermen’s issue, the BJP president, reluctant to elaborate, said the successful release of five fishermen from death row in a Colombo prison recently was a “good beginning.”
On the new dams proposed by Karnataka and Kerala in the Cauvery basin, he expressed the hope that inter-State issues would be resolved “amicably in consultation” with the States concerned.