4 Naughts and 1 Nosedive: Chidambaram Predicts BJP’s Seat Tally in South India

New Delhi: The BJP will draw a blank in four southern states and may take a big hit in Karnataka, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said.

In an interview to CNN-News18, Chidambaram said the saffron party will end up with zero seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the upcoming general elections.

“Southern states will reject the BJP lock, stock and barrel. They will get zero in Kerala, zero in Telangana, zero in Andhra Pradesh and zero in Tamil Nadu. They may win a few seats in Karnataka, but it will be less than what they have today,” the former finance minister said.

Accusing the BJP of practising the ‘politics of polarisation’, Chidambaram said the tactic will not work outside the Hindi heartland.

“They will try to polarise voters, which may not may not work in the Hindi heartland. I assure you that this nefarious attempt will not work outside the Hindi heartland,” he said.

Cracking the code in south India has always been a challenge for the BJP. The party currently has 21 Lok Sabha seats from the five southern states, which together account for 129 seats in the lower house.

Among the southern states, Karnataka contributed the most to the saffron party’s kitty with 17 seats. At the time, it was thought to be the party’s ‘Gateway to South India’, but Assembly elections in the state brought heartbreak for the party, with the Congress-JD(S) coming to power in the state.

While the party drew a naught in Kerala in 2014, it is hoping that its position on the Sabarimala issue will help it break the jinx in the Left-ruled state.

In Tamil Nadu, where it won just one seat in 2014, the BJP has entered into an alliance with the ruling AIADMK, which had swept the general elections last time but has since been plagued with infighting since the demise of J Jayalalithaa. It’s in direct fight with the Congress-DMK combine, which is also without the expertise of M Karunanidhi.

In Andhra Pradesh, where it had won two seats in 2014, the BJP faces friend-turned-foe Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP which has since moved to the Congress camp. In Telangana, the party is banking on K Chandrashekar Rao’s TRS to keep the Congress at bay.

Given its dismal performance in Assembly elections in the heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the party is banking on the southern and northeastern states to shore up the number in the Lok Sabha.