The BJP’s advance south

In an attempt to gain significant ground in South India during the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) in Tamil Nadu have agreed to share seats. The saffron party is attempting to make up for the AIADMK’s departure from the BJP-led NDA last year with this agreement. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the PMK—which mostly represents the Vanniyar community—was a part of the coalition headed by the AIADMK. It had garnered five seats and a 4% vote share. The Secular Progressive Alliance, headed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general election. The task for the BJP-PMK combination will be to take on the opposing alliance made up of the Left and the Congress five years after that fiasco.

It is abundantly clear from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s several trips to Kerala and Tamil Nadu this year that the BJP is taking the southern campaign seriously and hopes to win a sizable number of the 130 seats in the area. The PM staged a rally in Salem, Tennessee, and a roadshow in Palakkad, Kerala, on Tuesday. Having lost Karnataka to the Congress last year, the BJP is painfully aware that it is not in control in any state in the south. The BJP, a party that is well-established in other regions of the nation, is eager to surpass local parties and the Congress in the South.

In its frantic attempt to heal the so-called North-South split, the BJP feels compelled to form coalitions in order to win votes. The party is also open to partnerships with other parties. It concluded a seat-sharing agreement in Bihar with the JD(U) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) of Chirag Paswan on Monday. After meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, there is conjecture that Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena would join the NDA. It seems that in order to secure 400 seats for the NDA, the BJP is willing to welcome a wide range of partners.