BJP hopes for a boost through good show in Chennai Corporation polls

Speaking to media persons, BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan welcomed the local body elections and urged the State government to hold the civic polls as per the Madras High Court order.

Party functionaries said the national party would use the local body elections to show its strength in some of its strongholds, besides taking advantage of its performance during seat negotiations with potential allies for the upcoming general elections

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The confidence stems from the fact that the saffron party occupied the third position in 10 out of the 16 Assembly constituencies in the city and polled 1,38,827 votes in the 2016 Assembly elections.

The seats included Virugambakkam where Tamilisai Soundararajan polled over 19,000 votes and Thiyagaraya Nagar where its national secretary H Raja obtained almost the same number of votes.

The other seats include Saidapet, Mylapore and Velachery where the party found support among the middle-class voters. The BJP  also came third in Egmore and Harbour, where there is a sizeable population of north Indian communities, besides in Chepauk-Tiruvallikkeni, Thousand Lights and Anna Nagar.

Speaking to DTNext, a functionary said, “The BJP taking the third place in the capital of the Dravidian heartland is no mean achievement. The party achieved this despite the presence of Vijayakanth’s DMDK-led alliance comprising parties like the MDMK, VCK, Left parties and TMC.”

“Even in Maharashtra, we started taking roots in capital Mumbai before making inroads into other territories. A good performance in Chennai Corporation elections will be a boost to BJP’s growth in Tamil Nadu,” he added

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The BJP had drawn the votes of middle class voters besides the North Indian communities living in the city.

The DMK which rode to power in 1969 gained roots in Chennai first before expanding its base to other areas, the functionary pointed out.