BJP says Kamal's new party will not affect it

As questions arise about the impact of Kamal Haasan's new political party in Tamil Nadu "Makkal Needhi Maiam" (People Justice Centre), political pundits as well as other party leaders are weighing the prospects and threats that await existing parties once the party enters the fray - in right earnest at the hustings that is.

The BJP on its part has put a brave face to the new development. But for now, the BJP's Tamil Nadu leadership has not reacted sharply to Kamal's move. Kamal Haasan, it may be recalled, has said that he was not against any particular political force, and that he is neither right nor left but with the people.

At the same time, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is an ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre, congratulated Kamal. BJP leaders were quick to point out that it was an act of usual courtesy and thanks to the strong-links of Naidu and his family to the film world.

BJP's general secretary in charge of the state P. Muralidhar Rao said that his party was not worried, as the BJP has its own support base in the state. Further, the rise of Kamal's party was natural in the vacuum created after the death of AIADMK chief minister Jayalalithaa and with the state caught between the two Dravida parties, ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK.

Although Kamal has not spelt out clearly his relative leanings to any existing political dispensation, he is known to have hinted leftist leanings, and in effect criticize BJP's Hindutva politics.