The ruling AIADMK, in its first poll rally on Sunday bluntly told its ally BJP that it cannot make a dent in Tamil Nadu. AIADMK clearly ruled out accommodating the saffron party in the government if it won the assembly elections, due next year, and retained power.

The BJP has to endorse Chief Minister K Palaniswami’s candidature for the CM’s post for the polls. The AIADMK indicated at its meet that the saffron party also needs to agree to its other terms like non-participation in government and if not, should rethink of its 2021 electoral options.

Pointing to the deaths of AIADMK’s top leader J Jayalalithaa and DMK’s M Karunanidhi who opposed her, senior leader and AIADMK Deputy Coordinator K P Munusamy said that in the absence of such leaders, ‘many’ parties were now trying to make a political entry into Tamil Nadu and succeed.

KP Munusamy said that some national parties, who he called as “opportunists, betrayers and a crowd”, were blaming the Dravidian outfits, alleging that they ruined Tamil Nadu by their 50 plus year rule of the state. Munusamy wondered how accusations of inefficiency could be hurled against the AIADMK government when the Centre had given so many awards to Tamil Nadu for its stellar performance in many sectors.

Munusamy also added that on an overall basis, the state had a superior infrastructure and facilities, be it education or health care amenities. He added that all such forces eying political gains should realize that Tamil Nadu would not endorse them as Dravidian ideology is the bedrock of the state’s social and cultural milieu.

Munusamy further added that Tamil Nadu’s socio-political landscape was nurtured by the Dravidian movement, which was built on the ethos of Tamil culture, language and valour and hence the state was entirely different from the rest of the country. The distinctive feature and undercurrent of the Dravidian movement has effectively blocked the entry of national parties into the state for over half a century, he said, adding that it was only the offshoots of the movement, AIADMK and DMK that have been ruling Tamil Nadu since 1967.

The Tamil Nadu BJP, in general, is opposed to Dravidian politics, which, it had often said, showed some tendencies of separatism, resulting in the state going off the national mainstream. Of late, the saffron party had not targeted the AIADMK on the ground of Dravidian ideology.

Munusamy made the remarks in the presence of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and other senior leaders. In his fiery speech, Munusamy, a senior leader seen as close to Panneerselvam, who is also the party coordinator, was clear in his message that BJP cannot succeed independently in Tamil Nadu and was very much dependent on AIADMK. He also hinted that BJP should accept that AIADMK was the senior partner, endorse the candidature of Palaniswami or the saffron party may reconsider its electoral options for the 2021 polls. Though Munusamy did not mention BJP by name directly, it was clear that the message was intended for the national party that led the Central government.