Chennai : Now it is official – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday declared that the ruling BJP was open for an alliance with the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu for the 2019 general elections.

It was being widely speculated in Tamil Nadu that the BJP was likely to tie up with ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu ahead of the general elections as Rajiniakanth had more or less indicated that his entry into electoral politics was not just yet.

A BJP source hoped that Rajinikanth could endorse the BJP and send a message to his fans to bless the party in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Tamil Nadu, the close rapport deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami with the Prime Minister as also the recent meetings between the BJP leaders is being seen as the gathering of pace of alliance talks between the AIADMK and the BJP. Recently, union minister Pon Radhakrishnan and TN BJP chief Tamilisai Soundarrajan had called on the chief minister and deputy chief minister.

In fact, the opposition DMK had launched a campaign on AIADMK’s association with the BJP and how the AIADMK was bowing to each and every “anti-Tamil Nadu decisions” on a host of issues, whether it was NEET or Cauvery and this has gained traction in a state where BJP is viewed some suspicion.

DMK president MK Stalin kept up the pressure on the ruling dispensation in the state over the perceived AIADMK-BJP links.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated that the BJP was open to alliances – with old or new ones during an interaction with booth level BJP workers in Tamil Nadu.

In response to a question from a BJP worker as to how to deal with speculations over possible alliance of the BJP with AIADMK, the Prime Minister said that the party was open to alliances.