Good response to Annamalai’s yatra: Analysts

CHENNAI: Bharatiya Janata Party state president K Annamalai’s ‘En Mann En Makkal’ (My Land, My People) padayatra completed its first phase (22 days) on Tuesday amid much pomp and show. Annamalai covered 41 Assembly constituencies in the 22 days in Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli districts.

According to Amar Prasad Reddy, the joint coordinator of the yatra, Annamalai will start his second phase of ‘En Mann En Makkal’ yatra on September 3 from Alangulam in Tenkasi district.

“The second phase will cover constituencies in Tenkasi, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, The Nilgiris and Coimbatore districts. It will come to an end on September 27 in Singanallur constituency in Coimbatore district,” he added.

Speaking about the yatra, few party workers said, “From Day 1, huge crowd, including youth, women, children and elderly people can be seen joining the yatra from wherever it passes and excitement is visible amongst the people underlining that BJP’s Annamalai has become a household name in the state where the Dravidian parties are dominating voters.”

“The party under Annamalai has been working to fill the cultural gap between itself and the people of the state and also cornering the DMK government over charges of corruption,” they added.

Political analyst Ravindran Duraisamy felt that the yatra would boost the BJP’s prospects and help while negotiating for seats with its ally AIADMK.

“The yatra was launched to declare Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 3rd term and to meet the 2024 parliamentary elections and to increase the vote bank of the party and project Annamalai as a powerful leader. The yatra is going better than expected. At the end of it, the influence of BJP and Annamalai will definitely increase manifold.

Its result will be revealed in the seat sharing before the Parliament election. Annamalai will win if BJP wins double-digit seats in the AIADMK alliance. When the yatra is complete, Annamalai will prove to be more capable and influential than the previous leaders such as Pon Radhakrishnan, Tamilisai and L Murugan,” he opined. However, Ravindran said that Annamalai should also take note of the discord between AIADMK and BJP workers on the field and try to fix it.

Exuding hope and happiness, BJP state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy said, “Annamalai is proving by his actions that he can bring the change that people want on the field… It is true that there has been an uproar among the people due to the yatra. The good purpose with which he started the yatra is being fulfilled. This yatra has proved that Annamalai is the hope of Tamil Nadu. The impact of this will definitely reverberate in the upcoming parliamentary elections,” he added.