In the wake of speculations of the Congress in Tamil Nadu aligning with actor-politician Vijay’s fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), with a section of the party leaders favouring such a tie-up, Girish Chodankar, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, on Saturday, categorically said his party continues to be in alliance with the DMK.
Dismissing all negotiations with Vijay and his TVK as mere “rumours”, Chodankar said the seat-sharing talks with DMK will begin soon. “Who said we are aligning with the TVK? We continue to be in alliance with the DMK. The seat-sharing talks with the DMK will begin soon, and we will decide on the number of seats. I met the chief minister a month ago, and we discussed the alliance prospects,” Chodankar said in a press conference at party headquarters Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai.
The clarification from Chodankar comes at a time when Rahul Gandhi’s aide, Praveen Chakravarty, has been raking up controversies. His off-the-record meeting with actor Vijay and later his social media post comparing Tamil Nadu’s debt with that of Uttar Pradesh set the tone for talks about the Congress quitting the DMK alliance.
Following Chakravarty’s meeting with Vijay, a few of the Congress office bearers took part in a Christmas celebration event at Arumanai in Kanyakumari district, adding strength to the talks about a growing rift in the DMK-Congress alliance. And then came Chakravarty’s tweet saying the Tamil Nadu government is debt-ridden “Tamil Nadu has the highest outstanding debt of all states, calling the situation alarming. While Uttar Pradesh had more than double the debt of Tamil Nadu in 2010, TN now had higher debt than UP. TN’s interest burden (%) is 3rd highest after PB & HR… TN’s debt/gdp is still much higher than pre-covid levels,” he said in a tweet.
This post raised questions over the DMK-Congress alliance, with several Congress MPs and leaders coming out to explain that Chakravarty’s was an unwarranted post and it lacks the basic math. However, this turned into an ideological and internal rift within the Congress, which has been struggling to define its future in Tamil Nadu, where it lost power five decades ago.
In the meantime, former union minister P. Chidambaram called on Chief Minister M.K. Stalin recently. After the meeting, Chidambaram asserted that the Congress will continue to be in the DMK alliance. In a statement, he extended his wishes to Vijay’s political plunge but said the actor’s goal of coming to power in Tamil Nadu in next year’s elections won’t come true.
