'Will take this Lok Sabha election as a lesson': Annamalai on BJP's dismal performance in Tamil Nadu

A day after he lost in Coimbatore against DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar P, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai on Wednesday rued the BJP’s dismal performance in the state and said that the party will take this Lok Sabha election as a lesson.

At the same time, Annamalai also expressed happiness over the NDA alliance forming the government at the Centre for the third time.

“We accept the mandate of the people. We did not get the expected seats, but we are happy to form the government for the third time. We expected to send MPs from Tamil Nadu on behalf of the NDA alliance. We will work hard,” said Annamalai while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai says, "We accept the mandate of the people. We did not get the expected seats, but we are happy to form the government for the third time. We expected to send MPs from Tamil Nadu on behalf of the NDA alliance. We will work hard. We will analyze if… pic.twitter.com/TSJPg0KWvQ

— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2024

He said the party will analyse its mistakes in a week’s time and will see this election as a lesson.

“We see this election as a lesson and we will do better than before and make our candidates win in the upcoming elections in the state…,” said Annamalai.

Extending his best wishes to the INDI alliance MPs, Annamalai said that the BJP will support the legislators in bringing good schemes to the state.

Despite drawing a blank, the BJP, however, increased its vote share in Tamil Nadu to double-digit without having any alliance with either the DMK or the AIADMK.

After snapping ties with the AIADMK, which it had partnered in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 2021 State Assembly election, the BJP roped in the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and a few other smaller parties to head the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the first time in Tamil Nadu.

According to the Election Commission data as of 8 pm on Tuesday, the BJP, by contesting in 23 Lok Sabha constituencies, secured nearly 11.1% votes in the state. The party directly entered the fray in 19 constituencies and four of its allies contested on the BJP’s lotus symbol.

Though none of their candidates emerged victorious, the party managed to perform slightly better than the Congress which contested as a constituent of the INDIA bloc in nine constituencies in Tamil Nadu and polled 10.78%. Its vote share was around 3.6% in the 2019 general election when the party contested in five constituencies.

Annamalai lost in Coimbatore against DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar P by 1,18,068 votes. In a three-cornered contest, Annamalai surpassed Singai G. Ramachandran of the AIADMK, but not Rajkumar. Some of the other known faces of the BJP, who despite suffering defeat settled in the second place, pushing the AIADMK to the third spot, included Union Minister L Murugan in the Nilgiris (SC), former Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan in Chennai South, BJP Legislature Party leader Nainar Nagenthran in Tirunelveli, and former Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan in Kanniyakumari. AC Shanmugham of the Puthiya Neethi Katchi, a BJP ally, also stood second in Vellore.

Some of the other NDA candidates who managed to secure the second spot include Vinoj P. Selvam in Chennai Central, Raama. Sreenivasan in Madurai, Pon. V. Balaganapathy in Thiruvallur (SC), O. Panneerselvam in Ramanathapuram, and TTV Dhinakaran in Theni. Interestingly, out of all the NDA candidates in Tamil Nadu, only Sowmiya Anbumani of the PMK gave the alliance hope, leading in the initial rounds of counting. But she lost by nearly 20,000 votes.

The BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by winning 240 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. However, it is a far cry from the 303 mark it had achieved last time.

With inputs from agencies