All eyes on Madurantakam: PM Modi's rally to set tone for Tamil Nadu assembly polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off his campaign for the assembly polls in Tamil Nadu on Friday by addressing a public rally at Madurantakam on the outskirts of Chennai. All the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance constituents, including Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, will share the stage with Modi.

While the Anbumani faction of the Pattali Makkal Katchi rejoined the NDA last week, Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam went into the NDA fold on Wednesday, in the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal. This is the first time the AIADMK leaders will share the stage with Modi, after the party rejoined the NDA. By sharing the stage with the leaders of the NDA constituents - almost a 11-party rainbow alliance - Modi and the BJP aim to send a message to the party cadres and the people that they are united and it is a formidable alliance as against the DMK-led INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu.

At a time when the Congress is on a shaky note in the DMK-led alliance, the BJP worked overtime to firm up the alliance and make sure that it shows its strength. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, BJP’s state election incharge, arrived in Chennai on January 21, only to bring in the old alliance partners like the AMMK into NDA. Sources also say that the BJP is in talks with Dr. S. Ramadoss’s faction of the PMK and also former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam into the NDA fold. Incidentally, one of O. Panneerselvam’s sons called on Piyush Goyal and had a closed-door meeting to discuss joining the BJP. While the AIADMK leadership had categorically shut its doors to OPS and his family, the former chief minister’s son had reportedly called on Goyal to contemplate on the family’s political future.

Panneerselvam, who has been left in the lurch in the run-up to the election, sources say is contemplating many options - joining the DMK, aligning with the TVK or joining the BJP, as his sons prefer. However, Panneerselvam and his sons have not been invited to be part of Modi’s rally at Madurantakam.

But Modi’s rally is expected to be a success to set the tone for the assembly election, with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Anbumani Ramadoss, Tamil Maanila Congress chief G.K. Vasan, AMMK general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran, IJK chief Pari Vendhar and other allied party representatives sharing the stage with Modi, with an aim to project strength and solidarity. Elaborate arrangements have been made for the leaders reaching the venue, and traffic advisories have been issued.