On his 70th birthday in March 2023, addressing a public meeting with leaders of the DMK coalition, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said, “An alliance without the Congress should be rejected as it would not succeed. An alliance after the election will also be practically impossible. A third front is pointless. I humbly request all political parties opposed to the BJP to understand this simple electoral arithmetic and stand united.”
A year later, the INDIA bloc made a clean sweep, winning all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the solitary one in neighbouring Puducherry. The BJP and its rainbow alliance failed miserably to breach the Dravidian fortress.
The BJP has, however, managed to touch double-digit vote share in Tamil Nadu. The party directly contested in 19 seats and four of its allies also contested on the lotus symbol. It finished with a 10.72 per cent vote share, compared with 3.6 per cent in 2019, when the party was in alliance with the AIADMK.
In the Coimbatore constituency, BJP state president K. Annamalai lost by a margin of 1.18 lakh votes to the DMK’s Ganapathi P. Raj Kumar. Other key BJP leaders like Tamilisai Soundararajan, L. Murugan, Pon Radhakrishnan and Nainar Nagendran, too, failed to impress the electorate.
This story is from the June 16, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 16, 2024 edition of THE WEEK India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The female act
The 19th edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival was of the women and by the women
A SHOT OF ARCHER
An excerpt from the prologue of An Eye for an Eye
MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE
50 years. after his first book, Jeffrey*Archer refuses to put down his'felt-tip Pilot pen
Smart and sassy Passi
Pop culture works according to its own unpredictable, crazy logic. An unlikely, overnight celebrity has become the talk of India. Everyone, especially on social media, is discussing, dissing, hissing and mimicking just one person—Shalini Passi.
Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping
PORTS AND ALLIED infrastructure development are at the heart of India's ambitions to become a maritime heavyweight.
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Trump’s preferred transactional approach to foreign policy meshes well with Modi’s bent towards strategic autonomy
DOOM AND GLOOM
Democrats’ message came across as vague, preachy and hopelessly removed from reality. And voters believed Trump’s depiction of illegal immigrants as a source of their economic woes
WOES TO WOWS
The fundamental reason behind Trump’s success was his ability to convert average Americans’ feelings of grievance into votes for him
POWER HOUSE
Trump International Hotel was the only place outside the White House where Trump ever dined during his four years as president
DON 2.0
Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable