A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet took charge, RSS ideologue and Thuglak editor S. Gurumurthy took to Twitter to analyse the votes polled by the AIADMK and the BJP only to say that it was not an anti-Modi wave that pulled down the BJP in Tamil Nadu. Factual errors and misleading numbers in Gurumurthy’s tweet, however, irked the AIADMK seniors who felt that the party received a major election drubbing in the state because it aligned with the BJP.
READ: How AIADMK lost its chances of being in power at Centre?
“AIADMK lost two seats by 5 lakh plus votes. Five seats by 4 lakh plus. Five seats by three lakh plus. BJP lost two by less than 2 lakhs. One, by less than three lakhs and only one by three lakh plus. If it were anti-Modi wave BJP would not have lost all seats by 4 to 5 lakh plus. Who’s anti wave is it then? (sic),” Gurumurthy tweeted, comparing the votes polled in the Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
ADMK lost 2 seats by 5 lac + votes. 5 seats by 4 lac +. 5 seats by 3 lacs +. BJP lost 2, by less than 2 lacs. 1, by less than 3 lacs & only 1, by 3 lac +. If it were anti Modi wave BJP should have lost all seats by 4 to 5 lac plus. Who's anti wave it is then?
— S Gurumurthy (@sgurumurthy) May 31, 2019
However, Gurumurthy's numbers are factually incorrect, said AIADMK leaders quoting the data released by the Election Commission of India. According to the data available in the ECI website, nowhere in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK lost by 5 lakh votes margin. Only two AIADMK candidates—Thambidurai and Sivapathy—have lost the polls with a difference of four lakh votes. The PMK, which contested in an alliance with the AIADMK and the BJP, lost in two constituencies—Dindigul and Sriperumbudur—by a margin of five lakh votes. Vijayakanth’s DMDK, which contested in four constituencies, lost North Chennai with a difference of around four lakh votes.
Incidentally, the BJP leaders, who contested from five constituencies of the AIADMK alliance, lost in all seats by a margin of over 1.2 lakh votes. BJP’s former minister Pon Radhkrishnan, who won from his bastion Kanyakumari in 2014 by a margin of 1.2 lakh votes, lost to Congress’s H. Vasanth Kumar by a margin of 2.59 lakh votes. BJP’s star candidate H. Raja, who contested in Sivaganga against Karti P. Chidambaram, lost by 3.32 lakh votes. In 2014, Raja had lost the same seat to the AIADMK by a margin of 2.29 lakh votes.
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In Ramanathapuram, where the party expected a clean sweep for its candidate Nainar Nagendran, it lost by a margin of 1.27 lakh votes. The AIADMK won from the same constituency in 2014 by a margin of over 1.19 lakh votes. Again, in Coimbatore, where BJP candidate C.P. Radhakrishnan gave a tough fight against CPI(M)’s P.R. Natarjan, the saffron party lost by a little over 1.75 lakh votes.
With anger simmering between the AIADMK and BJP cadres saying that the alliance did not help a victory for both the parties, Gurumurthy’s tweet had only added fuel to the fire. When pointed out that the facts presented by him were wrong, Gurumurthy clarified saying, “I posted this because very responsible people were carried away by propaganda that there was an anti-Modi wave, when the facts do not seem to support it".
Apparently, Gurumurthy’s name did the rounds when the AIADMK was split and O. Panneerselvam launched his DharmaYudh in 2017, a month after the death of Jayalalithaa. It was said that Gurumurthy was instrumental in merging AIADMK factions under EPS and OPS in August, 2017. The RSS ideologue is known for his close relationship with BJP’s top leaders in Delhi.
