Two senior leaders not in race, is BJP toning down its Lok Sabha poll plans for TN?

THE fact that two leading figures of the Tamil Nadu BJP, state chief K Annamalai and Union minister L Murugan, will not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections is being seen as a sign that the party’s plans for the state, where it is trying to make inroads, have hit a bump.

The AIADMK parted ways from the BJP-led NDA last year, leaving the BJP without a major local ally in the state. While the BJP has been hopeful of wooing the AIADMK back, the regional party is holding back in the face of the DMK’s rise, riding a strident anti-Centre stand.

The BJP state unit, which has been looking at the central leadership for guidance, had picked up cues that Annamalai may take the plunge and contest from either Coimbatore, Tirupur or Pollachi. Sources said local leaders had been told to prepare for “a high-profile candidate” and “a major campaign” involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Similarly, Murugan was seen as short-listed to take on the DMK’s sitting MP, A Raja, from the reserved constituency of Nilgiris.

The fact that both will sit out the Lok Sabha polls could be construed as the BJP being apprehensive about losing, party leaders admitted. The BJP had not won any seat from Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when it fought in alliance with the AIADMK.

Annamalai’s announcement that he was not in the running for polls came as more of a surprise since he has long been seen as the BJP’s face for Tamil Nadu, and since his appointment as state chief, has taken an unapologetically aggressive stand, at the cost of alienating even BJP-friendly parties.

On Wednesday, it was Annamalai who announced that Murugan was being renominated to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, and went on to rule out that he might contest the Lok Sabha