BJP reaches out to OPS, urges him to meet BL Santhosh

CHENNAI: In a dramatic twist to the ongoing saga involving expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam’s tryst in the NDA, the BJP leaders at the State level has reached out to the sulking leader, asking him to meet the saffron party’s national general secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh, who is visiting the city on Sunday.

According to sources, the BJP high command was not happy with the way the episode played out, knowing well that the stakes were too high to spurn a leader of the Maravar community, which has a substantial presence in as many as 40 constituencies in the southern districts.

The saffron playmakers’ plans were clear when it promoted Naianar Nagenthran as the chief of the Tamil Nadu unit to cash in on AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s alleged lack of appeal among the community and DMK’s challenges in sufficiently wooing them as well.

The meeting with Santhosh, who is widely seen as the troubleshooter for South India who has the ears of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, was necessitated after Panneerselvam went public with the humiliation he faced in the form of being denied meetings with Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their visits to the State recently.

Though he did not name Nainar, the subtext was hard to miss. After he explained how his efforts to meet the BJP leaders were not entertained despite contacting Nainar repeatedly, political observers recalled the long-lasting animosity between the two for decades.

Nainar’s predecessor, K Annamalai, who has always been rubbing Palaniswami on the wrong side, threw his weight behind OPS during his tenure. However, the tables have turned since the recent change of guard in the State BJP and the political realignment in the NDA in TN.

The BJP high command has understandably preferred to ally with the “Two-Leaves” of EPS, which commands a solid vote bank of 21.4%, while the OPS-headed splinter group, called AIADMK Cadres’ Rights Retrieval Committee, has been a non-starter with a paltry 1% vote share.