Tamil party PMK boards NDA boat, more in queue

BJP, with an eye on expanding its NDA partners in Tamil Nadu, has added more than half a dozen partners in the southern state with the latest entrant being PMK. In a state where politics is dominated by the Dravidian parties, BJP has stitched up alliances with Tamil Manila Congress led by GK Vasan, TTV Dinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), TR Pachamuthu's Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), AC Shanmugam's New Justice Party (NJP) and John Pandian's Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK).

Veteran Tamil actor R Sarath Kumar has merged his Akila Indiya Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) with BJP. Now, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which enjoys influence among the Vanniyar caste and is concentrated in northern Tamil Nadu, has announced that it will join BJP-led NDA. BJP is also in talks with the late Captain Vijayakanth's DMDK.

At present, BJP has no MP from Tamil Nadu. The last time the party won a seat in the state was in 2014, when Pon Radhakrishnan won the Kanyakumari seat in a four-cornered contest. The politics of Tamil Nadu is mainly dominated by the two Dravidian parties - AIADMK and DMK.


In 2019, AIADMK was an ally of BJP and was one of the main partners of NDA. Last year, AIADMK broke ties with BJP over differences with its state unit president K Annamalai. Barring PMK, all allies of BJP in Tamil Nadu are very small players mostly limited to one Lok Sabha constituency.