'DMK has behaved like an anti-national party'

How confident does the BJP feel in Tamil Nadu ahead of the forthcoming elections?

We are very confident. We know our strengths and weaknesses very well. We know our areas to target. We are fairly ok with our preparations and this time we should do very well. Our strength has gone up especially after the 'Kanda Sasti Kavacham' (insult to Hindu god Lord Murugan by YouTube channel Karupar Kootam) issue. BJP Tamil Nadu has also taken up a lot of local issues and the connection with local people is very high. So I see a number of BJP candidates entering the Tamil Nadu assembly as MLAs.

The AIADMK recently told Asianet Newsable that BJP is a junior partner that will secure barely 3-4 per cent votes. Does this mean that the BJP won't have enough seats to contest? 

It's not about enough seats to contest. We are very clear that we are a '10 per cent' party in Tamil Nadu and we have grown very well. We will have a decent number of seats to contest. So I don't see any reason for a tug-of-war between alliance partners or fights. Everything is fairly smooth and there will be no issues.

You are leading the seat-sharing talks. How many seats are you expecting? 

I am just a part of the NDA coordination committee between alliance partners. Seat sharing and everything is decided by the central parliamentary board and they (central leaders) make that calculation. From the state, CM (Edappadi Palanisamy) will hold talks with the central parliamentary board and they will decide.

More importantly, we are very clear that Stalin should not come back. They (DMK) should not get back to that (chief minister) seat. We are very clear. So when our strategy is very clear that our senior partners AIADMK or NDA alliance has to form a government and Edappadi Palanisamy has to remain chief minister, I don't see any pricky issue in terms of seat-sharing.

Tamil Nadu politics has always revolved around DMK and AIADMK. Is there space for the BJP to make an impact? 

It was not revolving around a party, but around personalities. That's the basic definition. It was revolving around Anna (former TN CM CN Annadurai), Kalaignar (former CM M Karunanidhi), MGR (former CM M G Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. So it was based on personality politics. Now, no major personality is there. Now there will be different voting behaviour, different exhibition of leadership. Everything will be different now. Having said that, Edappadi Palanisamy has done well in the last four-and-a-half years and there is no anger against the present government. There is no anti-incumbency. That is why we are very confident that this government should be coming back to power.

Yes, along with our alliance partner, the BJP would also be making a good impact in terms of increasing its vote share, second in terms of winning some MLA seats and entering the assembly. Thereby, some kind of foundation will be laid for the BJP.

Earlier, BJP national general secretary CT Ravi projected that BJP may reach double figures in the forthcoming election. What is the assessment you are getting from the ground?

We are a '10 per cent' party now, and that will be reflected. We have grown very well in the last one-and-a-half years. The verdict will be out only (in terms of an increase in vote share) when election results will be out. You will be very surprised to see that there will be a huge jump in our voting numbers.

How does VK Sasikala's return impact the dynamics of the AIADMK-BJP tie-up? 

BJP as a party is in alliance with the AIADMK which is an institutional party. The party has been in existence since 1972. The party general council has decided that Edappadi Palanisamy and O Panneerselvam will be leaders of that party. Everything is being followed by a system wherein leaders are elected and are answerable to the party. BJP is only in an alliance with that (AIADMK) party. So I don't want to comment on individuals. That is purely their party's viewpoint. EPS and OPS are authorised leaders of that party and it is their call. I am sure from experience they will make some decision in the better interest of their party. 

Now that PM Modi has made the task bit easy by winning the support of Devandrakula Vellalar after he promised a 'heritage tag' to the downtrodden community, how do you plan to take this further? Your ally AIADMK seems to be making all-out efforts with a campaign to bring this segment votes for itself?

There is nothing like a strategy. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji himself connects to the demands of Devendrakula Vellalar. Now the bill is in parliament. In Chennai, Modiji said if you call yourself Devendra, I can connect you because I call myself Narendra. So for the PM, it is more like an emotional issue. So all the seven communities have got a new name. It is not a question of strategy or anything. 

Our state president L Murugan is also a representative of a particular community. That community had never got any representation in the political arena in Tamil Nadu. So all those communities know that it is BJP for them. We are not a party that only does lip service and does nothing. They (voters) are aware of that.

What are the issues over which this election is being fought?

The DMK never behaved like an opposition party. If you look at their statements and behaviour and what they are doing, they never behaved like an opposition party. They always behaved like an anti-national party. The kind of statement they make, the kind of language they are using, people have seen that from the last ten years now. That includes the behaviour of their MPs in Parliament. 

So this is a very peculiar election where a government has been in power for 10 years and is going for another five-year term. DMK and others are asking for a chance. Mow I have a feeling that people have rejected the ideology of DMK and Stalin's leadership ability. So I don't see any reason that DMK would be back to power. 

Second, the issue is whether Modiji's schemes have reached Tamil Nadu. A lot of development has been happening, and more importantly, we have a friendly government that is in power and this government is helping us to push Modiji's schemes in Tamil Nadu. 

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee does not allow many of the Centre's schemes. For instance, the PM Kisan fund in which every farmer in India is supposed to get Rs 6000. In Bengal, no farmer gets this benefit because Mamata Banerjee is not allowing it. So people want a friendly government because they want the prime minister's schemes to be implemented in the state. 

People of Tamil Nadu like Edappadi Palanisamy as a leader and think he should be given one more chance. They believe he will take Tamil Nadu on the path of development and that is the narrative we will play now.

The Congress claims that the BJP and the AIADMK engineered the Puducherry government collapsed and says it will reach out to the people of the Union Territory to inform them of the same. What is your take?

He (V Narayanasamy) was a thoroughly unfit chief minister. He did nothing in the last five years. Every time, he kept complaining against the Lt Governor. He only complains. The classic example is when Rahul Gandhi was on the stage, a woman complained that he (CM) never visited (flood-hit areas), he mistranslated it. So his nature is only to complain. I think people know who is he now and nobody would take him seriously.