The unexpected decision of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely to call on former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday has sent shockwaves through the Tamil Nadu BJP unit, some leaders of which want the party to reconsider decision to contest the Srirangam by-poll.
The high-profile meeting between the two leaders, which Mr. Jaitely termed as a “courtesy call,” took the Tamil Nadu BJP by surprise at a time when it was gearing to field a candidate in the by-poll. The constituency was of significance as it was vacated by Ms. Jayalalithaa following her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
A senior BJP leader lamented that the BJP Central leadership was now acting like that of the Congress, which hardly ever consulted the Pradesh committees before making important decisions. “None of us were informed that Mr. Jaitely would meet the AIADMK leader. We have been mounting severe criticism on the AIADMK government over the last four months. All that has crashed with this one meeting,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.
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A state general secretary of the BJP said the idea of contesting the Srirangam by-poll was to send a strong message to the electorate that the party wanted to be a formidable alternative to the two Dravidian parties. “But now that a senior Union Minister has met Ms. Jayalalithaa, it has reiterated a notion that the two parties were always friends,” the functionary said, calling the timing of the meeting as most “unfortunate.”
The leader added that not only would it be difficult to face the voters in Srirangam, the party organisation too would be demoralised by this “constant shift in position.”
“On Sunday morning, our national president gave a very positive signal about contesting the by-poll. In the evening, a senior leader goes and meets Ms. Jayalalithaa. All of us are totally confused. There has to be some clarity on what our position in the State should be,” the leader pointed out.
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The growing opinion in the party since Sunday was that entering the fray in Sririangam should be avoided. Rather, a candidate of one of the allies could be supported. But this line seemed unviable on Tuesday with the PMK openly declaring that it would neither field a candidate nor would support anyone in the by-poll.
Sources in the DMDK, the other ally in the NDA, said the district unit of the party wanted to contest the by-election alone. But time is running out to take such a decision.
“The last date for filing nominations is January 27. A decision like this has to be taken at least a month earlier so that you can prepare the ground. The opinion in the party is that it is too late now to make any impact. But the final decision would be taken by our party president,” a DMDK MLA said.
Both the DMK and the AIADMK have already announced their candidates.