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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will make a serious bid to take power in Tamil Nadu by leading an alliance in the 2016 assembly elections, its president Amit Shah said yesterday. |
The announcement was made after former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and former central minister D Napolean joined the BJP.
Shah said the BJP would mobilise 6mn new members in Tamil Nadu and it would be the largest party in the state in 2016.
He also told reporters that the party would lead an alliance during the next assembly elections and also declare its chief ministerial candidate.
Napolean, a minister in the Congress-led government quit the DMK on Saturday, joined the BJP at the party headquarters here in Shah’s presence.
On Saturday, music director Gangai Amaran joined the BJP.
Meanwhile, miffed with infighting and lack of co-ordination among state leaders that may harm the party’s prospects in the upcoming Delhi assembly polls, the BJP president has decided to take charge of the election campaign in the capital from December 25, a top party leader said.
According to him, Shah is currently occupied with the polls in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir but once the results are out tomorrow, he will shift focus to Delhi and dedicate at least two months to the city before the assembly elections are held, likely in February.
“The Delhi BJP needs direction and guidance from a single authority. At present, everyone is acting like he is the captain of the ship which is resulting in utter confusion,” the leader said.
He said owing to the threat from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shah started keeping an eye on the political developments in Delhi - where the BJP has remained out of power for the last 15 years - since he became the party president in July.
The December 2013 polls threw up a hung 70-member assembly, with the BJP winning 31 seats, the AAP 28 and the Congress eight, with three seats going to other parties and independents. The AAP formed a government that lasted 49 days, necessitating fresh polls.
“Shah knows that Delhi is not like other states where the contest is between the BJP and Congress. The general anti-Congress mood prevailing across the nation has helped BJP but in Delhi, it’s the AAP that is the main opponent of the BJP,” the leader said.
“Therefore, the party needs to put in much more effort but Shah knows that the party is struggling with infighting and poor co-ordination.”
Though, such allegations have been levelled against the party earlier too, this time the cracks are showing.
Some weeks back a party leader, in charge of an event, openly chided a party spokesperson for talking to the media about the preparations.
He was unhappy with the spokesperson hogging the limelight and instead wanted the media to give him footage.
Furthermore, at a meeting held between Shah and the Delhi BJP leaders and office bearers in November, it was decided that all the party parliamentarians would hold 2,700 public meetings across the city.
However, a month later, that figure has been reduced to around 1,400, the leader said.
“The state unit has failed in successfully organising these meetings and managing to gather enough crowds. Their management has been sloppy and hence the MPs lost interest,” said the leader.
Other sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (clean India campaign) too has been reduced to mere photo opportunities by some which has further added to the woes of the Delhi BJP’s leadership.
Shah is a tough taskmaster and has set a 60-seat goal in Delhi.
According to party leaders, Shah believes in working at the ground level and has directed the Delhi leaders, at a meeting on Thursday, to do the same. Shah had earlier met the leaders in November.
The source further said that a major reshuffle in the Delhi BJP is in the offing once the election is over.
