There are 129 Lok Sabha seats in South India. Of these, BJP had won 29 seats last time and now the challenge is to retain those 29 seats and snatch most of the 100 seats from the opposition. For this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Has spent 23 days in South India out of 80 days of the New Year. That means he stayed in South India every fourth day. Prime Minister Modi's emphasis on Sengol to Tamil Sangam can be a big investment for the elections. That is why everyone's eyes are on the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu, where BJP has made an alliance with six parties.
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PM Modi took command
BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha elections on 23 seats in Tamil Nadu and has announced 9 candidates today. The party has fielded veterans like former Governor Tamil Sai, Union Minister Murugan and State President Annamalai. The crowd gathered at the road show conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu has boosted the morale of BJP. After all, if Tamil Nadu, which has 39 seats, does not support the BJP's dream of crossing 400 for NDA, then the target may become difficult. There is zero silence for BJP in Tamil Nadu at present from electoral point of view but Prime Minister Modi has given maximum emphasis on Tamil Nadu in this Lok Sabha elections. The year 2024 began with Prime Minister Modi's visit to South Indian states. Recently the Prime Minister had come on a five-day tour of South India and in this he had a road show in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where he tried to corner Congress and DMK by raising the question of Hindu religion. The politics of Tamil Nadu has been dancing on the axis of two parties for the last five decades. One is DMK and the other is AIADMK.
This is how the gameplan was made in Tamil Nadu
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to create a third party in bilateral politics. Under this, BJP has formed an alliance with six parties in Tamil Nadu. The most important among these is PMK. Its leader is Anbumani Ramdas. Apart from this, BJP has also formed an alliance with Tamil Nadu Congress and Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK). BJP is playing the role of elder brother in NDA here, which itself will contest on 23 seats out of those 39, while PMK will contest on 10 seats and MMK on two seats. Four seats have been left for the remaining parties. PMK has been given special preference because of its dominance over the Vanniyar community, which constitutes about 6 percent of the population and has considerable influence in northern Tamil Nadu. PMK had got 3.8 percent votes and five seats in the assembly elections. In 2014, Ramdas had contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Dharmapuri seat in alliance with BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also seen connecting with the people of Tamil Nadu at the level of sympathy. Remembering party auditor Ramesh, Prime Minister Modi remained silent with a choked throat for 63 seconds. BJP wants to make a place for itself in North Tamil Nadu through new allies.
Preparation to fill Jayalalitha's place
In 2014, BJP won one seat in Tamil Nadu with 5.5 percent votes, whereas in 2019 it won 3.66 percent votes but did not get even a single seat. Now one is South Vijay and the other is the target of crossing 400. This has forced BJP to put more emphasis on Tamil Nadu. It may be a little easier for BJP this time to win the hearts of the Tamil community, which has the oldest language and culture, because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been visiting the state continuously for the last five years. For the last five years, his full emphasis has been on the cultural relations between Tamil and Kashi. BJP state president Annamalai seems capable of gathering good crowds in public meetings due to his aggressive attitude. AIADMK, weakened after the death of Jayalalitha, broke the alliance with BJP last year and the BJP parted ways with many of its leaders. Due to the absence of Jayalalitha, BJP is continuously trying to fill the place of opposition. BJP had once won three seats in Tamil Nadu by forming an alliance with the same Jayalalitha in 1998, but now the preparations are afresh.
Karnataka was made like this
Karnataka is the only state in South India where there has been a BJP government. Has been our Chief Minister. Last time BJP had contested the elections there alone and had won 25 out of 28 seats. This time she does not want to take any risk. Therefore, it has formed an alliance by fighting on 25 seats itself and giving three seats to former PM Deve Gowda's party. Apart from this, a big alliance has also been formed in Andhra Pradesh. BJP, which was reduced to zero last time, is riding on the chariot of new hopes with its old partner in Andhra Pradesh this time. BJP has coordinated with two parties in Andhra Pradesh, one party is Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and the other is actor Pawan Kalyan's Janasena Party. Prime Minister Modi is confident that this trio will do wonders in the elections. BJP's alliance with TDP has been making and deteriorating. If we talk about seat sharing, out of 25 Lok Sabha seats, TDP is contesting on 17 seats, BJP on 6 and Janasena Party on two seats. Assembly elections are also being held there simultaneously. Therefore, under the alliance with the Assembly, TDP is contesting on 144 seats, BJP on 10 and Janasena on 21 seats. BJP, which used to play the role of elder brother in Tamil Nadu, has by the time come to Andhra Pradesh come into the role of middle brother.
Found new friends in Andhra Pradesh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to balance national self-respect and regional development here. In Andhra Pradesh, Jaganmohan Reddy's party Yuvajana Shramik Rythu Congress Party i.e. YSRCP and Congress are in front of NDA. That means the fight could be triangular. Still, it seems that Congress does not have much of its support base left in Andhra. Despite this, she has brought Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy's sister into her party. On the other hand, Jaganmohan Reddy is confident that he will return to power. BJP is fighting alone in Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Last time it had got four seats out of 17. BJP claims that this time it will be in double digits. However, there are two more important parties or alliances in the fray. It is true that even in Karnataka, which was once the stronghold of BJP, BJP has joined hands with JDS to ensure its victory. Last time BJP had won 25 out of 28 seats in Karnataka. This time BJP itself is fighting on 25 seats and has given three seats to JDS, which won one seat last time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi started this year with a visit to South India. Due to his continuous work on Mission South, BJP feels that this time the lotus blooming across Vindhyachal will be visible from Delhi itself.
Big faces unveiled in Kerala
The situation of BJP in Kerala is not good. Although it had got more than 10 percent votes in the last Lok Sabha elections, it did not get even a single seat. This time Prime Minister Modi claims that seats will be available and in double digits. Earlier this year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached Lakshadweep, he had also visited Kerala before that. Even after that he continued going to Kerala. Not only this, even on March 15, when PM Modi went on a five-day southern tour, he reached Kerala. For BJP, Kerala is definitely a state which will reach double figures in terms of votes, but when it comes to seats, BJP had become zero in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP got 12 percent votes in Kerala but did not get even a single seat. At the same time, in the 2021 assembly elections, BJP's vote also slipped slightly and it became 11.30 percent and the seat was again reduced to zero. Even E. Sreedharan, popularly known as Metro Man, had contested the election as its face, he also lost the election. This time BJP feels that its account will definitely be opened in the Lok Sabha. For this, BJP has fielded its big leaders in the Lok Sabha elections. These include Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for External Affairs V Murali Dharan and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi.
