BJP plans ‘Mandhiramaalai’ meet to woo OBC votes

Aptly titled, the Mandhiramaalai conference is aimed at bringing together leaders of several backward communities on a single saffron platform along with top leaders of the national party.

Explaining the meaning of the name, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said, “Mandhiramaalai is a Vanniyar Goddess.”

Raviraj, a former PMK MLA and one of the organisers of the conference said, “According to mythology, Goddess Mandhiramaalai married Rudra Vanniyan, who rose from the flames during a yaga performed before Lord Shiva.”

However, Tamilisai stoutly denied that the conclave was not to target the PMK, but to rope in the backward communities into the party fold and strengthen the party base in the northern districts.

Several Vanniyar leaders from the PMK, DMDK, Congress and other outfits are expected to join the national party.

However, political observers see the conclave as a clear attempt by the national party to establish a connect with the backward communities with promises for their development and key posts to leaders from the community in the Vanniyar belt, which has 12 Lok Sabha constituencies. Further to instill confidence in voters of the backward community in these districts, heavyweights of the saffron party like BJP national president Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Seetharaman would be prominently seen on the dais at the conference, which is being organised by leaders of backward communities.

Raviraj, who believes that only the BJP alone could be the saviour of the backward communities, says, “We want to bring the backward communities together on the BJP platform. We will air our grievances to the leaders who attend the conference and promise our community support if the demands are met.”

Compared to the southern and western districts, the BJP has a negligible presence in the northern districts. During the 2016 Assembly elections, the party polled just 3,554 votes in the six seats of Dharmapuri. In Villupuram district, which has 11 constituencies, the saffron party received just 3,081 votes. In Cuddalore, the party obtained 4,416 votes in nine seats, while in Tiruvannamalai district it got 8,068 votes in eight

constituencies.

The BJP performance in Vellore with 13 Assembly constituencies is better with 27,198 votes, while it got 19,468 votes in Salem which has 11 seats and 11,178 votes in the six constituencies of Namakkal district. In Krishnagiri, bordering Karnataka district, the national party received 36,588 votes in the six seats. The party had done better in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts adjacent to Chennai. In Tiruvallur, it received 40,235 votes in 10 seats and got 46,693 votes in the 11 constituencies of Kancheepuram district.