The high-level meeting between DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi and AICC leader Rahul Gandhi was very cordial, ironing out all the differences in the alliance. During the meeting, Gandhi is said to have categorically informed the DMK leadership—via Kanimozhi—that his party will not push for any strategy that would cause a strain in the alliance, including the talks about power-sharing.
He is also said to have ruled out any options of choosing an alternate alliance, or even aligning with Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), in the run-up to the election.
The meeting, which lasted for less than 30 minutes, has apparently put an end to all the speculations around the Congress-DMK relationship, which had been under strain over the past few months due to several opinions made by Congress and the DMK leaders on social media and in public rallies.
The meeting has also cleared the air on “power-sharing” demands made by the Congress that the DMK was averse to.
Notably, the DMK has a longstanding policy that it has to be a single majority rule in the state and a coalition rule at the Centre, and would never compromise on this policy at any cost.
Yet, Congress’s recent activities—be it the tweets by Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore or Gandhi's aide Praveen Chakravarty—had caused tensions, which led to the DMK leaders talking against the national party.
The other major issue that was worrying the DMK was the possibility of Congress's power-sharing demands hurting its equations with the other parties in the alliance, such as Thol. Thirumavalavan’s VCK, Vaiko’s MDMK, or both the Left parties. The DMK had also been wary of the fact that any increase in the number of seats for Congress could lead to the other partners demanding more seats.
DMK insiders say that during the meeting, Gandhi insisted on holding cordial talks on seat-sharing and finalising the numbers through a discussion within the seat-sharing committee.
He is also said to have informed Kanimozhi on the treatment of Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu by a few DMK leaders, for which he sought an immediate redressal. However, the DMK leadership via Kanimozhi had informed the party high command on dealing with Girish Chodankar and explained how it could strain the alliance equations. It was thus agreed during the meeting that a senior leader like Mukul Wasnik would be appointed to accompany Chodankar during talks with the DMK seat-sharing committee.
A week ago, a section of Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu had even called on Mallikarjun Kharge, who insisted on continuing the alliance despite some of them considering going with the TVK. However, as of now, Rahul’s meeting with Kanimozhi has put a stop to all the speculations of aligning with the TVK, as the Congress leadership did not see any future for the national party by breaking the alliance.
Sources say that the Congress—which had earlier upped the ante by saying that it was the biggest partner in the DMK alliance, and would not agree for any number below 70 seats—is now likely to agree to about 25-30 seats.
DMK insiders noted that Congress's final demand was an increase in number from the existing 18 constituencies that it had won in 2021. The national party had demanded 42 seats and was still ready to agree for 38 or more. The DMK, however, only agreed to slightly increase its offer from 25 to 28.
Though the strain in the alliance has been ironed out by Kanimozhi and Rahul Gandhi, all eyes are on how the numbers game—that is yet to begin—will affect the DMK-Congress alliance, going forward.