The Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), led by former Union Minister G.K. Vasan, on Monday, February 26, 2024, announced that it was joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Vasan, TMC’s president, told reporters at the party’s headquarters in Chennai that the alliance would take full shape in the coming days, and, based on the number of partners in it, seat allocation would be finalised.
Following the announcement, BJP State president K. Annamalai met with Mr. Vasan. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Annamalai said the narrative that the BJP was against minorities would be broken in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Mr. Vasan, he said, had taken the decision [to join the NDA alliance] after lot of consultations. “He has taken the first step to bring about a change in Tamil Nadu’s political landscape in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections,” Mr. Annamalai said.
BJP T.N. president K. Annamalai seen with TMC (Moopanar) president G.K. Vasan in Chennai on Monday, February 26, 2024. The TMC has decided to join the BJP-led NDA alliance for the upcoming LS polls | Photo Credit: M. Srinath
TMC (Moopanar), which was re-launched in November 2014 (after it had earlier merged with the Congress in August 2002), and was part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when it was given one Lok Sabha seat to contest in. N.R. Natarajan of TMC had contested in the Thanjavur constituency and lost to the DMK candidate S.S. Palanimanickam. Subsequently, the AIADMK had nominated Mr. Vasan to the Rajya Sabha.
The AIADMK however, snapped ties with the BJP in September 2023, and has ruled out the possibility of forming any alliance with the saffron party.
Mr. Vasan had recently held a slew of meetings with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami and discussed the possibilities of an alliance. Arvind Menon, a BJP leader in-charge of Tamil Nadu, had met with Mr. Vasan on Sunday, February 25.
Later in the day, T.N. Ashokan, headquarters secretary of TMC tendered his resignation and quit from the party’s primary membership. In his letter to party chief G. K. Vasan, Mr. Ashokan said in the current political situation, the decision to align with the BJP was not acceptable to him.
