Post poll debacle, change of guard likely in State BJP

The poor show in TN has become a subject of discussion among the top party leaders in Delhi and a move to replace the state leadership is very much on the cards, highly placed BJP sources told DT Next.

The names of Vanathi Srinivasan, CP Radhakrishnan, Nainar Nagendran and KT Raghavan are making rounds for the top post in TN.

In the just concluded elections, the NDA led by BJP had scripted history by bagging close to 350 seats in the country, but the performance of NDA in TN was poor when compared with the previous election. In 2014, the NDA won two Lok Sabha seats (Kanniyakumari and Dharmapuri) but lost all the seats barring one in 2019.

While the AIADMK won the Theni seat, it was a disastrous performance for the NDA in TN. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan was trounced by Congress heavyweight H Vasanthakumar by a margin of more than 2.5 lakh votes and this trend also prevailed in Coimbatore, Sivagangai, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram.

According to party sources, Pon Radhakrishnan, who is largely silent on the poll debacle, will have a say on the new party office bearers.

“The BJP in 2014 contested nine seats and bagged a vote share of 5.48 per cent. Back then the party ignored the Dravidian majors – DMK and AIADMK. This time despite an alliance with the ruling AIADMK, we managed a vote share of only 3.66 per cent,” fumed a BJP district secretary.

“The AIADMK focused on only the 22 Assembly seats to retain power in the State and there was no effort from the ruling party in the Lok Sabha seats. The NDA performed better during the previous polls and won two Lok Sabha seats, but this time we drew a blank because the AIADMK let us down,” he said.

Earlier, following the declaration of results, Tamilisai Soundararajan admitted her party’s defeat in TN, adding that the BJP would analyse and introspect on whatwent wrong for them in the elections.