The Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu unit held a crucial core committee meeting in Chennai on Wednesday, charting out a detailed roadmap for the upcoming electoral battles and organizational strengthening. The meeting, which saw the attendance of key state leaders, focused on finalizing plans for a series of visits by national leaders and strategizing alliance formations.
National Leaders' Visits and Pudukkottai Rally
State BJP president Nainar Nagenthran announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have been formally invited to attend the concluding event of his statewide rally in Pudukkottai on January 9. The party is currently awaiting confirmation regarding their participation. This high-profile visit is seen as a significant move to galvanize the party's base in the state.
In a related development, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who heads the three-member election committee for Tamil Nadu, is scheduled to arrive in Chennai on December 23. His visit is pivotal for steering the party's pre-poll negotiations.
Goyal's Crucial Role in Alliance Building
BJP leaders disclosed that Piyush Goyal's agenda includes holding discussions with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) and leaders of other political parties that are considering joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). A senior leader emphasized that Goyal's rapport with EPS and other influential figures like S.P. Velumani will be critical during the impending seat-sharing talks.
Furthermore, Goyal is expected to explore the possibility of bringing former AIADMK leaders O. Panneerselvam (OPS) and T.T.V. Dhinakaran (TTV) into the NDA fold, a topic that has previously caused internal friction within the state BJP.
Bridging Differences and Election Preparedness
The core committee meeting marked the attendance of former state president K. Annamalai, who had skipped the previous meeting in Kumbakonam and several party events in recent months. This follows separate meetings that both Nagenthran and Annamalai had with Amit Shah in New Delhi earlier this week, aimed at resolving their differences.
These differences had become public, primarily concerning the approach to engaging with leaders like OPS and TTV. While Nagenthran had backed EPS as the sole decision-maker in the AIADMK, Annamalai favored a more collective approach. A senior BJP leader indicated that Goyal's appointment as the election in-charge is strategically aimed at preventing such disagreements and strengthening the party's bargaining position during alliance negotiations.
BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan stated that the meeting concentrated on election preparedness. Regarding the induction of OPS and TTV, she clarified that such decisions would be handled by the central leadership. Nagenthran expressed confidence, asserting that the party is election-ready and predicting that more political parties will join the NDA in January.
