Chennai: Tamilnadu has suddenly become the focus of top guns of national politics, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
After visiting Madurai, Tirupur and Kanyakumari in the last one month, Modi will be in Chennai 6 March, to attend a mega rally. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi has chosen Tamilnadu to kickstart the UPA’s election campaign. He will do this on 13 March, in the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary in-charge of east Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his mother and sister, respectively.
So, why this sudden shift of attention towards the southern State? “There are 40 Lok Sabha constitu- encies in Tamilnadu and Puducherry, and in most elections, people of the State and the neighbouring Union Territory had voted towards a particular party or alliance. In 2004, the DMK Congress combine made a clean sweep, while in 2014, the AIADMK won 37 seats and emerged the third largest party in the country, after the BJP and the Congress. Tamilnadu has formed a key role in the formation of many governments in the Centre. Hence, the two big parties (BJP and Congress) arebetting big on TN ahead of Parliamentary polls,” said C Karthick, a techie and a politial analyst.
A BJP functionary says, “It is true that we are focusing more on Tamilnadu this time. We have stitched a grand alliance and are taking every step to win as many seats as possible.”
According to a Congress spokesperson, “Tamilnadu played a key role in both UPA-I and UPA-II. People of the State are fed up with the BJP government and will once again vote for our alliance this time. Rahul ji is optimistic about making an impact here with his campaign strategies.”