Poll pundits foresee fewer suitors for BJP

“The national party will certainly look for an alliance in the state. Further, BJP leader Amit Shah has already announced that his party will forge an alliance in TN,” opined political commentator Sumanth C Raman. “We have to wait and see whether big parties are going to join the BJP or the alliance will end up with smaller parties. After losing three states, getting potential allies in TN will be an issue for the BJP,” Sumanth Raman added.

BJP is not an influential party in Tamil Nadu. They do not have social or political base here, so they need an alliance in the state. Parties like PMK may continue their alliance with the BJP, said professor in political science Ramu Manivannan. Even if the BJP had won all the five states, it is difficult for the party to have a potential ally, he added.

“Already, the DMK and other minor parties like MDMK and VCK are not interested in aligning with the BJP and now with this kind of results, it will be difficult for the BJP to get new allies,” observed political commentator A Marx.

“Except the ruling AIADMK, no other party seem to be keen on going with the BJP due to the increasing anti-incumbency factor. And already the AIADMK looks weak and if they ally with BJP, it will be a double anti-incumbency,” he added.

“It will be difficult for both the Congress and the BJP to win Parliament seats in Tamil Nadu,” said north Chennai AIADMK functionary Poonganagar Selvam. Even during the heights of Modi wave Tamil Nadu voted in favour of the AIADMK leaving only two MP seats for the BJP alliance led by the DMDK helping BJP and the PMK to win two seats. But now the political spectrum of Tamil Nadu had completely changed, he noted. According to Election Commission sources, BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls secured 5.5 per cent vote share. The vote share during 2016 state Assembly polls dipped to 2.86 per cent and in the RK Nagar by polls, the BJP finished with less than one per cent vote and came below the option of NOTA.