Amit Shah speaks of grand coalition in TN
TARGET ’19 BJP chief lashes out at Karnataka CM, Oppn parties
CHENNAI/BENGALURU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah spoke of a grand coalition his party would form in Tamil Nadu that would sweep the Lok Sabha elections in the state, and, a while later, in Karnataka’s Sindhanur, he said the opposition alliance-in-the-making to take on the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance would have a prime minister a day.
AIADMK deputy coordinator and a member of alliance talk committee K P Munusamy said the party has been talking with the BJP and other smaller parties. “We have already made it clear to whom we are speaking. In the next step, soon, we will announce our alliance.”
Railway minister Piyush Goyal, who is incharge of Tamil Nadu for the BJP, is said to be leading his party’s team in the official seat-sharing talks with the BJP.
“We have been looking to forge an alliance with AIADMK, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK- an OBC Vanniyars Party) and Vijayakanth’s DMDK. Since Piyush Goyal is the election incharge for Tamil Nadu, he will finalise the alliance,” said a senior BJP leader in Tamil Nadu, asking not to be identified.
In Karnataka, Shah took aim at chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, and said it was not to the people of Karnataka that the CM owed allegiance, but to former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
He added that if a coalition were elected to power at the Centre, then every day a new person would be Prime Minister.
Karnataka sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha and the BJP fancies its chances in the state.
Political analyst Ramu Manivannan, head and professor, department of politics and public administration, Madras University said, “It is obvious that BJP has been supporting the AIADMK government since the death of later CM and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. So, it is natural that AIADMK will join hands with BJP.”
Responding to Shah’s statement on coalitions, Karnataka state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said coalitions had given stable governments in the past as well.