Ahead of the assembly general elections, the DMK has strategically strengthened its alliance in Tamil Nadu by accommodating Captain Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) as a new ally. The DMDK, which has been aspiring for a Rajya Sabha seat, has finally worked out the deal with the DMK. The Rajya Sabha elections are due in April.
“We have formally joined the DMK alliance. We have been friends for a long time,” DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth said after calling on chief minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin at the DMK headquarters in Chennai.
In 2021, though Stalin's party won with a single majority, the victory margin between the AIADMK and the DMK was only close to 26 lakh votes. DMDK contested in alliance with TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK in the 2021 election, winning close to 12.5 lakh votes across the state. While the AMMK scored close to 10 lakh votes, spoiling the prospects of the AIADMK in at least 54 constituencies in the south. The DMDK did the same for the AIADMK in North Tamil Nadu. In 2024, being in alliance with the AIADMK, Vijayakanth’s son Vijaya Prabhakaran scored more than three lakh votes in Virudhunagar constituency, making Congress’s Manickam Tagore win the constituency with just over 3,000 votes.
The DMDK’s vote share which began with an impressive 8 per cent or 27.64 lakh votes in the 2006 elections and went up to 31.26 lakh votes in 2009 and touched 29.03 lakh votes in 2011, making Vijayakanth sit in the opposition. This time, the party was in alliance with the AIADMK. Subsequently, in the successive elections Vijayakanth’s popularity began coming down as most of his MLAs defected to the AIADMK and Jayalalithaa ensured that the DMDK loses its credibility. Reason being Vijayakanth’s heated arguments as the opposition leader against Jayalalithaa in the floor of the assembly. Later in 2021 as Vijayakanth became ill, the party scored only two lakh votes across the state.
By bringing in a smaller party like the DMDK into the alliance, the DMK leadership has won in the perception battle at the first instance, saying that the elections are fought on arithmetics and political equations. Stalin’s image as an inclusive leader who can accommodate smaller parties has helped the alliance symbolically. DMDK may not have a strong voter base, but ‘Captain’ (as Vijayakanth is known) loyalists still add numbers to any alliance they are part of. Vijayakanth’s roles in Tamil cinema as a honest man and his anti-corruption plank have resonated strongly among the rural voters who still remain loyal to him. On the other side, Premalatha Vijayakanth is looked at as a solid star campaigner who can go around the state and speak among the people in fluent Tamil, which is absent among the other national parties like the Congress or the Left parties in the alliance. And being a woman leader, she can add strength to the DMK’s women welfare push campaign. Additionally, the DMDK is expected to add strength to the alliance by bringing in Telugu-speaking Naidu community votes, which ranges from 1,000 to 1,500 every assembly segment in Tamil Nadu.
The bargain and the negotiations
However, more than the votes or the symbolism, a compulsion that led to a push for Premalatha and Stalin striking the deal is the Rajya Sabha nominations, which begin on March 2. With six seats falling vacant, the DMK has four and the AIADMK has two. DMDK has long been aspiring for a Rajya Sabha ticket, which did not materialise in the AIADMK alliance. Out of the four seats, it is said the DMK could allot one to the DMDK, if they choose to walk into the alliance before the nominations begin. And the DMDK if they miss this opportunity, which was already declined by the AIADMK in 2024, will have to wait for two more years for a Rajya Sabha ticket.
Premalatha Vijayakanth, who was seen offering prayers to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Yoga during the Shivaratri celebrations along with the AIADMK leaders went for last phase of negotiations with the BJP-led NDA. The DMDK expected the BJP to accommodate the party with a Rajya Sabha ticket, which could also translate into a Union minister post. But there was no promise of a Rajya Sabha ticket. Premalatha had also sent feelers to actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). But the opening of the nomination window for the biennial election on February 16, turned the tide towards DMK. The DMK is also believed to have briefed the DMDK, citing the earlier examples of people like Vijayadharini and R. Sarathkumar who were never “rewarded” for walking into the BJP. This “cautionary note” in fact was the high pitch in the bargain that made Premalatha walk into DMK headquarters Anna Arivalayam on Thursday. The agreement finally was MLA tickets, expenses and a Rajya Sabha seat. According to DMK insiders in the know of the negotiations between the two parties the DMK had promised six MLA tickets and one Rajya Sabha to the DMDK. This could turn into a lifeline for a party that had lost its face and also its vote share in the past one decade. The negotiations from the DMK were led by senior minister E.V. Velu. And more than the expenses and the MLA tickets, DMDK could also manage to get mayoral positions and local body representations in the civic polls due in 2027.
Message to the Congress
By bringing in a fringe player like the DMDK, Stalin seems to have sent a strong message to the Congress party, which has been in disagreement with the DMK, demanding more seats and power sharing. Congress’s statements regarding power sharing has caused a strain in the alliance equations in the past two weeks, making the DMK leadership send a strong message to the party’s Delhi high command that the DMK can win the election with its present strength.
However, DMK insiders say that a broad understanding has been reached with the Congress party and the negotiations are at the final stages. Congress’s demand for a higher number of seats may also be addressed by the DMK, sources say.
As of now the DMK alliance comprises Thol. Thirumavalavan’s VCK, Vaiko’s MDMK, the two Left parties, DMDK, Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam and a few other fringe groups that have a strong vote base in certain pockets of the state.