Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa addresses the media at her residance in Chennai on Friday.
The AIADMK's unprecedented victory of 37 out of 39 seats and the third largest party status haven't given party Chief Jayalalithaa the targeted political muscle power, to have a larger say in Delhi. But the party might stage fireworks in the new Lok Sabha, following the BJP's footsteps, to get things done for the state.
Mr C Ponnaiyan, a senior leader and former Finance Minister told NDTV, "We will not allow bills to be passed. When our numerical strength is more, when we block proceedings, regional parties will join together irrespective of party politics to pressurise the government to give due share to states."
During her campaign, perhaps anticipating that the new regime would run short of majority, the AIADMK General Secretary asked people to empower her with numbers that would make her party indispensable in a coalition government, to bring benefits to the state. But the BJP's absolute majority and the NDA's overwhelming tally have dashed Ms Jayalalithaa's calculations, making her numbers redundant.
The BJP's brilliant performance has also crushed the party's wish to make her the Prime Minister. Even the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Ms Mamata Banerjee who's part of the third front was willing to support Ms Jayalalithaa on that.
For a question if her party would join the NDA government, Ms Jayalalithaa says, "That situation doesn't arise now". But she added, "I hope the new Centre will be friendly towards Tamil Nadu".
Although her cadre celebrate AIADMK's stunning performance, many leaders are a disappointed lot. A senior leader told NDTV, "Imagine how strong we would be had the BJP secured less than 250 seats?"
However many in the party are confident that the BJP cannot afford to brush aside the queen bee of Tamil Nadu politics, taking into account the national party's lack of majority in the Rajya Sabha which is unlikely to improve till 2016. That would mean the BJP would face the heat from the Congress and other opponents in the upper house and it would require the support of AIADMK's 11 MPs for passing bills.
Another senior leader in the AIADMK says "our support to the BJP would still be crucial. Though Amma has said no, Mr Narendra Modi should come forward to invite us to join his government. We cannot ask."