RSS’s strategist S. Gurumurthy has started giving face to the saffron aspirations in Tamil Nadu and perhaps his biggest success is to inspire Amma’s friend Sasikala to retire from politics. If sources are to be believed, first Gurumurthy wanted Sasikala’s nephew Dinakaran to merge his party with AIADMK and Sasikala would also return home, but neither Panneerselvam nor Palaniswami agreed. Sasikala belongs to the Thevar caste, the vote share of this caste in Tamil Nadu is around 10 percent. The DMK and AIDMK are eyeing this vote bank, as thevar votes are decisive in 38 assembly seats in the state. The news of Sasikala’s retirement was also shocking that some 10 days ago, Sasikala and TTV Dinakaran had spoken of reopening the 2017 petition in which both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam were to be surrounded by the AIADMK leadership’s decision. The BJP also felt that if Sasikala continued to promote Dinakaran’s party, it could have an impact on 60-70 seats. In the last 10 years, the total assets of Dinakaran have increased from 3.48 crores to 11.19 crores. Sasikala’s assets worth more than Rs 200 crore are already being investigated by ED and Income Tax Department. Among the Benami properties, Sasikala, her sister-in-law Jay Ilavarasi, and nephew VN Sudhakaran also have a separate case of assets worth more than Rs 2000 crore. So, through Sasikala, the BJP has placed a big bet. If the Thevar votes fall in the AIADMK’s court, then the BJP has an impact on its Brahmin and forward votes. On the other hand, DMK has to leave seats for Congress, Left, PMK, and many other smaller parties. The impact of PMK is on the Vaniyar caste. and the BJP has understood this ethnic arithmetic in a short time.