00:00The BJP got a rude shock this week, when its partner and ally in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK,
00:10suddenly decided to snap its ties with them and exit the National Democratic Alliance
00:15or the NDA. The ostensible reason is that the AIADMK has been unhappy with the state
00:21BJP president's remarks on its leadership for almost a year now. However, this is also
00:26a calculated decision by the southern party, which actually hasn't benefited from being
00:32in an alliance with the BJP for the last few years. They've lost every state election,
00:36the general elections, they haven't been doing well even in local elections, because of this
00:40alliance. For the BJP on the face of it, one would think that there isn't much to lose
00:44because the party doesn't really have much of a presence in the south, especially in
00:49Tamil Nadu. Except that because the BJP has calculated that it could lose some seats in
00:56next year's general election in the north of the country, it is trying desperately to
01:00pick up seats in uncharted waters wherever it can. And therefore, strategic alliances
01:06and partnerships like the one with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu do become important for the
01:11Lok Sabha polls. But the fact also is that after the JDU, the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav
01:17Thackeray and the Akali Dal, this is another major ally that the BJP has lost in the last
01:22few years. It says a lot about the party's style of functioning when it comes to dealing
01:27with its smaller partners. And if they do want to have a larger coalition on board to
01:33support them in the general elections, then they'll have to find a less disdainful way
01:39to deal with allies.
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