BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai is all set to start his five-month yatra by foot from Rameswaram, beginning July 28. The yatra titled ‘En Mann, En Makkal’ meaning ‘My Soil My People’ will be kick-started by home minister Amit Shah and the party expects more than 1.5 lakh people to participate on the first day of the event.
Narayanan Thirupathi, State Vice President, BJP, said: “The Padayatra will cover all the constituencies and districts. The aim is to tell the Tamil people about the achievements of the Central government and Prime Minister Modi ji. Apart from that, we will also expose the bad governance of the DMK rule. We will have more than 100 volunteers in each place of the yatra.”
The BJP has decided to choose Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram district as the starting point of the rally. “Rameswaram is a holy place and also it is in the tip of Tamil Nadu. We wanted to choose between Kanyakumari or Rameswaram and we chose Rameswaram because it is a Holy place,” Thirupathi added.
There are clear attempts to woo Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contest from a Southern constituency in Tamil Nadu, partly because the BJP had won earlier from Kanyakumari in the past. The bid also underscores how desperate the party is to turn around the poor electoral results in the state so far.
In 2019, the DMK alliance swept the Lok Sabha polls in all but one seat in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, with OPS’ son P Ravindhranath winning the sole seat from Theni, which has recently been declared “null and void”.
While the BJP has been gaining strongly in terms of support in recent time, it still leaves much to be desired in terms of a strong contribution to the national MP tally from the state.
In the recently held regional consultative meeting of state presidents of 11 states and national general secretaries, many of them had reportedly suggested that PM Modi should contest from Rameswaram.
The seat is currently held by K Navasaki from the Indian Muslim League.
Meanwhile, the state BJP leaders believe that the yatra will help the party emerge stronger and focus on winning the 2026 state assembly elections.
“In Tamil Nadu, the party has grown very well over the last five-six years and we will ensure that through the Yatra, the BJP emerges as a strong force in the state. We will emerge as a victorious force in the 2026 state elections and sweep the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Thirupathi said.
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