Chennai, Sep 22 With several months left for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections scheduled to be held next year, political equations in the state are rapidly shifting.
The latest development is the surprise meeting between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former State party President K. Annamalai and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) General Secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran at his residence in Chennai's Adyar on Sunday night.
Dhinakaran had recently announced his exit from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), citing strong opposition to the AIADMK General Secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami being declared as the alliance's chief ministerial candidate.
While AMMK had earlier aligned itself with the NDA, Dhinakaran made it clear that his party could not accept Palaniswami's leadership, triggering a significant setback for the BJP's coalition efforts.
According to sources, BJP leader Annamalai met Dhinakaran for nearly one-and-a-half hours in a closed-door discussion.
The former state BJP President is said to have persuaded Dhinakaran to reconsider his decision and rejoin the NDA fold, stressing the importance of unity ahead of the crucial state polls.
The meeting comes at a time when BJP is working to hold together its alliance with AIADMK, PMK, and other regional parties in the state while managing internal dissent.
Earlier this week, State BJP President Nainar Nagendran had called on AIADMK Chief Palaniswami at his residence, underlining the BJP's efforts to keep its allies on board.
BJP leader Annamalai's outreach to Dhinakaran, however, has now set political circles abuzz, with speculation rife on whether the AMMK leader will soften his stand or remain firm on walking away from the alliance.
The political heat is intensifying as all major parties -- DMK, AIADMK, BJP, Congress, PMK, DMDK, MDMK, TMC, and others -- have already began their poll preparations.
The DMK is banking on its incumbent governance record, while the AIADMK is fighting hard to regain lost political ground.
For the BJP, the challenge lies in balancing its alliance strategy with AIADMK while also keeping influential figures like Dhinakaran within the NDA fold.
BJP leader Annamalai's late-night meeting with Dhinakaran is being widely read as a high-stakes effort to prevent further fragmentation of the NDA ahead of the upcoming state elections.
Whether it will succeed in bringing the AMMK leader back into the fold remains to be seen, but the political drama has already added a fresh twist to Tamil Nadu's pre-election landscape.
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