The four-year-old ties between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its southern state partner, AIADMK, ended on Monday after the latter announced that it was walking away from the alliance following months of internal rifts. The AIADMK also clarified it would lead a separate front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The decision to break away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was made at a high-level meeting chaired by party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai.
The move to break off the alliance comes days after senior AIADMK leaders called on BJP National President J P Nadda in New Delhi and apprised him about the ground situation in the state arising out of the saffron party’s Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai’s aggressive style of politics.
The development comes at a crucial time when the country is all set to witness the General Lok Sabha Elections next year. Here’s a brief timeline of the fate of the BJP-AIADMK alliance.
AIADMK-BJP First Partnership in 1998
Founded by former Tamil Nadu CM MGR, the AIADMK and the BJP partnered for the first time in 1998 for that year’s general election, sweeping 30 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. However, the alliance lasted soon after a reported rift between then-party chief Jayalalitha and Atal Behari Vajpayee.
1999: AIADMK Joined Hands With Congress, BJP with DMK
In 1999, the AIADMK and Congress joined hands while the BJP allied with Karunanidhi’s DMK which won 26 of 39 seats in the next general election. The DMK departed the alliance in 2003 and the duo never allied again.
BJP-AIADMK Partnered Again in 2004
The BJP partnered with the AIADMK in 2004 again but their alliance won zero seats in Tamil Nadu. Since then, the BJP reached out to the AIADMK in almost every election but was rebuffed.
BJP-AIADMK Allied Again in 2019
In 2019, the BJP was wiped out in Tamil Nadu and its partner AIADMK was decimated to only one seat. On the other hand, the DMK-Congress alliance won 30 (Congress 8 & DMK 24) out of 39 seats in the state.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021
In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly Election, the DMK made its return to power in the state after 10 years bagging 133 of the 234 seats, while the AIADMK managed to win only 66 seats.
2019-2023: BJP-AIADMK Alliance
Despite several differences in their ideology, the BJP-AIADMK were still at their most solid ever before the entry of current BJP state president K Annamalai. In March this year, 18 BJP members quit the party and joined the AIADMK. Simultaneously, over 100 AIADMK cadres reportedly joined the BJP.
September 25, 2023 – BJP-AIADMK Call of Alliance
The AIADMK on Monday announced walking out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and said it would lead a separate front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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