Two weeks after DMK’s deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi called on the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to initiate the alliance talks in Tamil Nadu, the stalemate in the DMK-Congress alliance continues.
The DMK, which promised to constitute a committee to hold seat-sharing talks with the national party and the other alliance partners has chosen to remain silent, despite the opposition camps gaining strength.
Being a larger partner in the alliance, DMK had promised to constitute a high level committee to hold talks with the Congress and alliance partners, soon after Kanimozhi met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to iron out the differences in the alliance equations. However, the DMK, sources in the Congress say, is stubborn that the committee will be constituted only after the seat-sharing numbers are finalised behind the scenes.
“Our leadership is very upset with the developments here. We have asked the DMK high command to initiate the talks so that the alliance talks are settled and we start our election work. But the leadership feels the Congress’s demand for a larger number of seats can upset the alliance equations,” a senior Congress leader from the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) told THE WEEK.
A few of the TNCC leaders have again been summoned by the party high command to Delhi to update on the situation and decide on the next course of action.
“We have formed a five-member committee. I cannot explain why the DMK has formed a committee. We have now formed a five-member committee with three members from the AICC. All the MPs and MLAs from Tamil Nadu have also met the AICC leadership and expressed our views. And the AICC said that let the committee hold talks with the DMK committee. Also, Kanimozhi met with our leader, Rahul Gandhi, in Delhi about 10 days ago. It's really upto the DMK to explain why they haven’t formed a committee to hold talks with the Congress. There is no delay on our part. We are willing to be in the alliance, and that is the view of the AICC. But this can only progress after the DMK forms the committee,” says Sivaganga MP Karti P. Chidambaram.
The delay apparently seems to be causing bitter talks within the alliance back and forth, which has also led to uneasiness in the alliance, spoiling the DMK’s electoral prospects. While the DMK believes that it can win the election as it is a four-cornered fight with Vijay eating into AIADMK’s vote bank, its delay in accommodating the alliance partners has made the alliance lose in the perception battle. The barbs and comments have only added more bitterness to the relationship. “Our demand is 41 seats. They are not willing to talk about the numbers," one of the senior leaders in the Congress committee said.
Within the Congress, a section is strongly opposed to continuing the alliance with the DMK and wants to go with Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam. “TVK might be a new party. We will get more seats. And this will help us increase our vote percentage in the state, even if we do not have numbers in the assembly,” says one of the Congress MLAs who is for an alliance with the TVK. He feels that Congress is continuously being suppressed in the alliance. “We managed to get 63 seats in 2011 when we were in power. But now the DMK is dictating terms. They want to reduce us to less than 25 seats,” says another leader who is all set to leave for Delhi to meet the high command.
But the DMK, which has already coined a slogan saying “Velvom Erunooru” (meaning we will win 200), seems to be in no mood to increase the numbers for Congress. “The committee will be formed soon. Our leader will hold talks with the Congress leadership personally and take it forward,” a senior DMK leader told The Week. However, most of the DMK seniors are in no mood to accommodate the Congress. “Why should we work for them?” asked a senior leader from the DMK from West Tamil Nadu.
However, DMK’s organising secretary R.S. Bharathi on Monday clarified that there is no rift in the alliance between the Congress and the DMK. “Praveen Chakravarthy is not someone who can decide on the alliance. The alliance between the DMK and the Congress continues,” Bharathi said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the equation of the alliance in Puducherry is also facing trouble. While the Congress is demanding more seats in Tamil Nadu, the DMK, in Puducherry, is planning to demand more than the 13 seats that it contested in the 2021 polls from the Congress. This has led to a further rift in the alliance.
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Congress, which had already lost its space in the neighbouring union territory after most of its faces moved to the BJP ahead of the 2021 elections, is said to be upset with DMK’s 'high-handedness'. Sources say that DMK’s Arakkonam MP and election in-charge for Puducherry, S. Jagathrakshakan, visited the UT this week to assess the electoral situation. Jagathrakshakan, who is also said to have chief ministerial ambitions, did not meet any of the Congress leaders. “This was deliberately done to snub the leaders there,” says a senior Congress MP. It is said that he met the other alliance partners in Puducherry. The DMK sources have said that he will meet the Congress leaders during his next visit, very soon.
In Puducherry, the Congress has more than 26 per cent of the votes, while the DMK’s vote bank is only in single digits.
