Get BJP MLA elected in TN, win an Innova

Elections in India are all about rewards. While despite vigil, cash for votes is well documented in the country, incentives for political functionaries, who strive for victory of their party's candidates, have seldom been forthcoming. But now in a bid to motivate his party functionaries, so that they can put their heart and soul into the campaign, BJP State president L Murugan has announced that party district secretaries, who ensure the victory of candidates in next year's Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, will be rewarded with an SUV - a Toyota Innova, to be precise. Murugan, who had taken over as the State unit chief a few months ago, at a virtual meeting of districts incharge, said an Innova will be gifted to each of the district heads who succeeds in sending a BJP member to the Legislative Assembly. The BJP is a minor player in Tamil Nadu and only once - in 1996 - it managed to send a lone representative to the Assembly on its own strength. In 2001, four BJP candidates were elected with the DMK's support. Thereafter the party has consistently drawn a blank in every successive Assembly election. In fact, in the by-election in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, vacated by late Jayalalithaa, the BJP candidate polled less than NOTA votes.

Recently, MLA Ku Ka Selvam, expelled from the DMK, has thrown his weight behind the BJP, though he has def tly avoided joining the national party, lest he attracts disqualification under the antidefection law.