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The Print
01-06-2025
- Politics
- The Print
As AIADMK picks two ex-MLAs for Rajya Sabha polls, Annamalai may have missed the bus this time
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to get him accommodated through the quota of one of its allies such as the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), but party leaders say that's not happening for now. Elections are to be held for six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu on 19 July. In Tamil Nadu's 234-member assembly, the AIADMK-led alliance in the state has the numbers to send two members to the Upper House, while the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has the numbers to send four. Chennai: K. Annamalai, who was replaced as Tamil Nadu BJP chief in April to smoothen the road for a tie-up with the AIADMK, may not be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha this year since BJP ally AIADMK has already declared the names of two candidates for the polls. BJP state president Nainar Nagenthiran told ThePrint that Annamalai would be accommodated at the national level by the party's national leadership at an appropriate time. 'It necessarily need not be the Rajya Sabha. He may be given a post at the national level to build the party. It will be decided by the national leadership,' Nainar Nagenthiran told ThePrint. It may be recalled that the alliance between the AIADMK and the BJP broke in September 2023, when Annamalai was the state president of BJP. On 11 April, Nainar Nagenthiran filed nominations for the post of BJP president and Annamalai stepped aside, paving way for an alliance between the two parties. It was on the same day, Union minister Amit Shah announced the revival of the alliance. The next set of vacancies for the Rajya Sabha will come up only in April 2026, when states including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Haryana will elect their new members. BJP state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy said that Annamalai would be accommodated at the national level by the party's national leadership at an appropriate time. Meanwhile, the AIADMK named two candidates— and the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. Belonging to a Christian Nadar community, Inbadurai is a practicing criminal lawyer in Madras High Court and a former MLA from Radhapuram between 2016 and 2021. He joined the party in 1983 and served as the special government pleader in the Madras High Court between 2011 and 2016 during the AIADMK period. He is the party's advocate wing president. Dhanapal, belonging to the Adi Dravidar caste, a Scheduled Caste, is a party's old timer and former MLA from Thiruporur between 1991 and 1996. He has been active in politics ever since MGR founded the party in 1972. In a statement, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami assured that a Rajya Sabha seat will be allocated to the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam in 2026, hinting that the DMDK is still in alliance with his party. However, DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth said that it was the 'duty' of the AIADMK to allocate a Rajya Sabha seat. Asked if the DMDK is still part of the AIADMK-led alliance, she told the media in Chennai that they would announce the alliance in their party's conference in Cuddalore in January 2026, months before the 2026 assembly election. 'Since the Rajya Sabha seat to the DMDK is only close to the elections, we will also announce our stands close to the election,' Premalatha Vijakanth said. She also thanked Chief Minister for passing a resolution at the DMK's general council meeting in Madurai, condoling the death of DMDK founder Vijayakanth. Political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy pointed out that it was time for the AIADMK to send a message to its party workers rather than the alliance partners. 'At a time when the party is gearing up for the 2026 assembly elections, the party leadership has felt that it is the need of the hour to reassure its workers that they would be rewarded for their work, irrespective of the positions they hold now. That's what it shows by the appointment of the old-timer Dhanapal,' Duraisamy told ThePrint. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: Back in action, BJP's Annamalai positions himself as rival to Udhayanidhi & Vijay, eases up on AIADMK
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Caste, corruption and coalition: How elections are fought and won
If Indian politics is a theatre, Tamil Nadu is a multiplex. Where cigarette flicks and dark glasses are the perennial symbols of style and substance, sycophancy does a tandava over psephology. And with the players ensconced in the ministerial thrones in Delhi, it is no longer just a southern delight. Arun Ram, Resident Editor, The Times of India, Tamil Nadu, who alternates between the balcony and the front row, says it incites as much as it excites. During the intervals, he chews on a bit of science and such saner things. LESS ... MORE Most Indian elections centre around three 'C's — caste, corruption and coalition. The Tamil Nadu assembly election of 2026 won't be different. And the winner will be the one who plays the three cards strategically, not always overtly. The two big players – DMK and AIADMK – which have their roots in an ideology that spoke of a casteless society, have been adept at political calculations based on caste. BJP is catching up. PMK and VCK have vanniyars and dalits as their vote base. NTK, the perennial loner, has made inroads into some dalit pockets, but Tamil sub-nationalism remains its core slogan with a limited appeal. DMK has made a head start on the caste front with the recent cabinet shuffle. The removal of V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy was inevitable given the potential harm they posed to the party, and M K Stalin used the opportunity to 'balance' his cabinet ahead of the polls. S S Sivasankar being given the additional charge of electricity was one way of placating vanniyars. S Muthusamy, who gets back the revenue-rich excise portfolio, hails from the gounder community (to which AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and former BJP state president K Annamalai belong) that has considerable electoral say in the western districts. R S Raja Kannappan, a Yadava, has been moved to the forest ministry, making available the dairy ministry for the reinduction of T Mano Thangaraj, who can reach out to Christian Nadar voters in the south. AIADMK, which has been doing a balancing act, with gounders and thevars in leadership roles, too has enough representation from all castes to be fielded in the next election. BJP leader Amit Shah is known for his mastery of what is euphemistically called social engineering. So, it wasn't a surprise that when the party decided to move Annamalai out of the state party chief's post, the first choice became Nainar Nagenthran, an influential thevar and a former AIADMK minister from Tirunelveli. Dalits, who constitute more than 20% of the state's population, haven't been able to consolidate as a political force; what's left after divisions between sub-castes and supporters of different parties have aligned with VCK, making Thol Thirumavalavan a crucial ally of DMK. PMK, which has its prime vote base among vanniyars who constitute around 12% of the population, may not have many options than go with NDA as Thirumavalavan wouldn't be part of an alliance that includes PMK. The internal power struggle between its founder S Ramadoss and his son and party president Anbumani Ramadoss has diminished its bargaining chips. Coming to the next 'C', corruption is an issue that every opposition party loves as a poll plank. Though corruption in govt hasn't reduced, DMK has so far been able to dodge charges against some of its ministers. While the governing party may keep the tainted ministers out of the fray, silently communicating that the cases against them are from their alleged past deals and not during the present tenure, corruption may not become the deciding factor unless Enforcement Directorate succeeds in building a case out of the alleged `1,000-crore Tasmac scam and provide admissible evidence against any of the incumbent ministers. The third 'C' can work as a double-edged sword for major parties, especially DMK. As long as it is an electoral alliance, parties are happy with it; once it becomes a proposal for a coalition govt, worry lines show. In 2021, DMK won 133 of the 173 seats it contested, allowing it to form the govt on its own. If its tally falls below the 118-mark in the 234-assembly in 2026, coalition will cease to be a sweet word for Stalin. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
The Print
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Print
As 2 ministers resign, Stalin applies poll arithmetic in Tamil Nadu cabinet reshuffle ahead of 2026
The Nadar community is dominant in the southern districts, a region where the ruling DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Opposition AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) are fighting to widen their support base. The region has previously been a stronghold of the AIADMK. Thangaraj is the ruling party's MLA from Padmanabhapuram and, according to government sources, is likely to be given the milk and dairy development ministry that he held between 2023 and 2024. Chennai: With Tamil Nadu headed for assembly elections next year, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has rejigged his cabinet, keeping political considerations in mind. Following the resignation of K. Ponmudi and V. Senthil Balaji as ministers Sunday, Stalin Monday reinducted former minister Mano Thangaraj from the Christian Nadar community, increasing the count of Nadars in the cabinet to four. The incumbent cabinet has three ministers from the backward Nadar community, as well as the assembly speaker. The milk and dairy development ministry is currently held by R.S. Raja Kannappan, who is likely to be allotted the forest and khadi departments that were held by Ponmudi. Raja Kannappan hails from the backward Tamil Yadavar community—another group dominant in the southern districts. The Tamil Nadu cabinet reshuffle had been necessitated after Balaji and Ponmudi resigned in the wake of adverse comments made by courts against them this month. Balaji held the electricity, prohibition and excise departments. Ponmudi and Balaji have been facing allegations of graft, while four other DMK ministers face charges of having disproportionate assets. Government sources said that state transport minister S.S. Sivasankar, from the Vanniyar community, is likely to be given the additional charge of electricity, while minister for housing and urban development S. Muthusamy, from Kongu Vellalar community, is to be given prohibition and excise as an additional department. The swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers will take place Monday evening at Raj Bhavan. According to political analysts, the reinduction of Thangaraj, from southern Kanyakumari district, and reshuffle of prominent departments to Raja Kannappan ahead of the election points to the DMK's desperation to retain its southern support base won over in the previous state election. Political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy told ThePrint that DMK leader Stalin's move was meant to appease voters in the southern districts in the wake of the AIADMK making efforts to win back its lost fort in Tamil Nadu's south. 'The 10.5% (internal) reservation (among the Most Backward Classes) for the Vanniyars (given by the AIADMK and later struck down by court), and breakaway of TTV Dhinakaran from the AIADMK had cost the party dearly in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Thus, its performance in the 2021 assembly election and 2024 Lok Sabha election was poor in the southern region,' he explained. 'But now, they are slowly regaining their lost support as they have formed a strong alliance, which includes Dhinakaran. Hence, the DMK is also giving prominence to leaders in the southern district,' he added. Also Read: DMK minister Ponmudi removed from party post amid row over vulgar remarks on Shaivism & Vaishnavism Fight for southern Tamil Nadu According to political analysts, the southern districts of Tamil Nadu have favoured AIADMK since the 1970s, and this support increased in the late 1990s. Raveendran said the support of Thevars (an Other Backward Class community dominant in the southern districts) dwindled after the demise of AIADMK supremo and former CM J. Jayalalithaa in 2016, and was gained by the DMK in the 2021 election. Out of 60 seats contested in the southern districts, the AIADMK that year managed to win only 16. Raveendran asserted that the DMK's move to bring in a Nadar community member (Thangaraj) into the cabinet, and give prominent departments to another minister from the southern parts (Raja Kannappan) was meant to consolidate its support base. 'AIADMK's Thevar vote bank is now split into multiple parties and the only way to gain majority in the state is with the help of other communities in the region. The move to give additional importance to Nadar and Yadavar will help the DMK ahead of the 2026 polls,' he told ThePrint. According to political analyst Arun, it all started with former CM M.G. Ramachandran, who had first made Thevar Jayanthi a government-sponsored event in 1979. He was the first CM to participate in the event, largely celebrated by the people of the Thevar community. 'Although electoral politics is based on caste calculations, M.G.R.'s move to celebrate Thevar Jayanthi as a government-sponsored event got him more support from the community. Subsequently, the support increased in the late 1990s, after the DMK government took some serious action against caste violence in the southern districts,' Arun told ThePrint. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: With statue of 'genius' Karl Marx in Chennai, Stalin looks to nurture Dravidian-Left movement link
