Tamil Nadu BJP gears up for local body polls

The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, buoyed up after winning four Assembly seats, is now gearing up for the ensuing local body polls to new nine districts and the urban local body polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) constituted a 17-member committee on Wednesday with former MP and former state president, C.P. Radhakrishnan, Mahila Morcha National president and Coimbatore MLA, Vanathi Sreenivasan, party TN general secretaries -- K.T. Raghavan, Karu Nagarajan and Rama Srinivasan, and party floor leader in the Legislative Assembly Nainar Nagendran are among the members of the committee. Former DMK MLA Ku Ka Selvam, who joined the BJP recently, is one of the special organisers of the committee.

The state unit of the BJP with its political alliance with the AIADMK has entered into the mainstream of the Tamil Nadu politics and the party does not want to leave any loophole in the run-up to the elections. The party central leadership is also keen that it emerges in Tamil Nadu and the signals were clear with the induction of former state president K. Murugan into the Union council of ministers during the recent reshuffle of the Narendra Modi government.

With the party handpicking former IPS officer turned politician, 38-year-old K. Annamalai as the state president of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, the national leadership has given clear indications that it means business and that delivery is important.

The rural local body polls will be conducted before September 15 in the nine new districts following a Supreme Court order. The DMK government having won the 2021 Assembly elections will go for an all-out victory in the rural local body polls.

The newly constituted BJP's 17-member committee will be focusing on the electoral list and will sort out the possible seats and plan the work accordingly.


K.T. Raghavan, BJP state general secretary and a member of the newly constituted committee told IANS, "We have commenced the work long back but it is now formalised with the committee members. We are working as a single unit and will do wonders in the elections."

With the party expecting grassroots support from the dedicated RSS cadres, the party is focusing on the seats where there are fair chances of winning and to convert the chance to a victory.

With the AIADMK also keen to stage a comeback win in the rural local body polls, this would also turn into a major advantage for the BJP being the electoral partner of the AIADMK.


R. Vatihalingam, AIADMK spokesman and senior leader told IANS, "AIADMK, BJP alliance is intact and it will be a joint effort in the ensuing rural body polls and we expect a good win in all the constituencies."-IANS