Katchatheevu: BJP's island of no return

It is not a coincidence that two of the most vociferous choristers of Prime Minister Modi on the question of Katchatheevu should both be Tamilians (Nirmala Sitharaman and Dr. S Jaishankar) and both do not have the courage to contest the Lok Sabha elections; neither of them is capable of winning from anywhere. Not even from Tamil Nadu where the BJP finds itself between a rock and a hard place.

- V Sudarshan

It is no secret in Tamil Nadu that even if Prime Minister Modi were to camp in Tamil Nadu for the next month and a half, pretty much the same way he did in Karnataka for the assemby elections -- and utter only one word Katchatheevu -the BJP is not likely to cull even one extra vote over this spurious controversy which is one hundred per cent bogus.

Consider the optics: The foreign minister goes to the BJP headquarters to dilate for half an hour on a party matter. It is a party matter because of the importance the BJP has placed on prising open the Tamil Nadu poll kitty. Having been unable to to persuade the AIADMK to ally with it, largely so that it could piggy-back on the "Two Leaves' symbol, the BJP has tried to sew desparate alliances to claw its way into the electoral scene. It is a far cry, though.

Essentially, the AIADMK feared the political kiss of death, if they aligned with the BJP, something the BJD in Odisha saw through at the last moment. The AIADMK knew they would lose all the minority votes, had they gone with the BJP. The marriage failed.