The Tamil Maanila Congress as part of NDA will face the coming elections under BJP’s leadership, party chief GK Vasan has said on Monday, 26th February.
This is the first alliance that the BJP has brokered in Tamil Nadu with a regional party after the AIADMK severed ties with it last year.
Vasan will reportedly attend the Prime Minister’s public meeting at Palladam in Tirupur district on 27th February.
The Tamil Maanila Congress was part of the AIADMK-led NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu in the 2021 assembly elections. However the alliance fell apart when Edappadi K Palaniswami’s AIADMK left the alliance in September 2023.
The Tamil Maanila Congress chief, who is a Rajya Sabha MP has said that his party has had a “national outlook” ever since its founding by his late father GK Moopanar.
He said the party’s decision to join forces with the BJP is based on issues like the welfare of Tamil Nadu and Tamils and a strong and prosperous India.
He reportedly said that the people have realised that another term under Prime Minister Modi will lead to economic prosperity and reduction in poverty, among others.
GK Vasan was an ally of the Indian National Congress serving as the Union Minister under UPA-1 and UPA-2 governments.
In 2014, he broke away from the Congress and took forward his father’s legacy with the Tamil Maanila Congress party, which had eventually merged with the Congress in 2002.
Vasan’s exit came as a big jolt to the Congress as he had earned a standing similar to that of former Chief Minister K Kamaraj of Congress (O) faction that was formed as a breakaway force from Indira Gandhi-led Congress.
