The rath yatra of NDA prime ministerial candidate to the Red Fort may get very little support from the South. The BJP, in the allies-driven election politics of the South, is left alone even in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where it had friends earlier.
The party sneaked into the southern region when it formed its government in Karnataka. It has 18 Lok Sabha members now and planned to contest all the 28 LS seats in the state. In other southern states, the uncertainties clouded the fortunes of the party.
Having had its honeymoon in TN with both the AIADMK and DMK in 1998 and 1999-2004, respectively, BJP is going it alone in Tamil Nadu. It is not because the party is not interested in continuing its relations with either of the Kazhakams but because they have BJP?s arch rivals for company. DMK has the Congress and AIADMK the Left parties.
In Kerala, BJP had been a loner and will remain to be so this time also. It is pinning hopes on the good show of its leader O Rajagopal as a minister of state in the Vajpayee government and zeroes in on the misdeeds of both the Congress and Left to make a breakthrough in one of its strongholds in Kasargod, Palakkad or Thiruvananthapuram.
In Andhra Pradesh, where the state goes for Assembly polls with the general elections, the political scenario has undergone a sea change from the 2004 elections. The new-born Praja Rajyam Party of the actor-politician Chiranjeevi has become a major force along with the Congress and the grand alliance of the Third Front comprising the Left parties, TDP, TRS and others.
Advani will launch the election campaign in Kanyakumari on Sunday. It will also be the formal beginning of the election work in Tamil Nadu. The party will finalise candidates and seats on March 15, according to the state president L Ganesan. The source hinted that the party would contest from at least 15 constituencies.
In Karantaka, it would be multi-cornered contest, with Congress, the Third Front, led by Deva Gowda?s Janata Dal (S) , and BJP at the forefront. BJP would win more seats this time, said confident party spokeperson CT Ravi. The main stake of the party are youth and new votes.
The minority bashing and cultural policing of the Hindutva outfits, with the recent tacit support of the ruling BJP in many parts of Karnataka, may not be taken lightly by the youth and new voters, political observers said.
??The fanatical attacks on minorities and fundamentalist attack on human rights and unwarranted moral policing by the unbridled Hindutva organisations like Bajrang Dal and Rama Sene were considered to be absolutely against the Constitution and undermining the cultural edifice of the democratic Republic of India. BJP may have to pay the price for the exploits of its ?vanara sena? in the coming Lok Sabha elections??, they said.