'ANNAMALAI HAS RAISED BJP'S EXPECTATIONS IN TN'

BJP national women's wing president and Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, amid her busy election schedule, tells R Kirubakaran that her party is not against Muslims or any other minority communities and it is the opposition parties that spread such hate.

- R Kirubakaran

She also hailed party state president K Annamalai's leadership which has raised expectations about BJP in Tamil Nadu.

BJP is putting extra efforts in TN this time as compared to previous polls. How do you analyse the electoral field here?

The field is hot. Though DMK and AIADMK say that BJP is no competition for them, they keep talking about the party and Annamalai. Annamalai is trying to forge an alternative politics between the Dravidian parties. Looks like other parties cannot digest the fact that he is an unconventional politician.

BJP state presidents before Annamalai have not acted aggressively like him. What is your take?

 It all depends on the circumstances of the leaders. Even when J Jayalalithaa was the CM, there were a few restrictions on our state presidents.

Annamalai has a better environment than the former presidents. The ruling DMK is a politically strong opponent. But opposition against DMK has been rising ever since Annamalai came in.