After two months of negotiations, the ruling DMK and the Congress party finally signed a seat-sharing pact for the Assembly elections. Days of uncertainty have now come to an end, with the Congress formally agreeing to contest 28 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha berth.
However, the final pact-signing event, where K.C. Venugopal and the Congress leaders could be seen smiling as they stood beside DMK leader M.K. Stalin, did not come easy.
Kanimozhi is said to have not only spoken to Rahul, but also with those in his close circles—in order to influence his decisions. Sources say that she has taken all-out efforts since March 2 to speak with a number of Congress's top brass, including Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, P. Chidambaram, and also AICC leader Rahul Gandhi.
Sources close to Kanimozhi have also said that she tried to convince her brother and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to offer at least a few seats. She then reportedly took efforts to bring in Chidambaram to mediate and ease the tension in the alliance, as Stalin had not been willing to increase the number of seats allocated to Congress.
More than the alliance equations, Stalin’s personal respect for Rahul Gandhi had taken a beating on March 1, when the AICC leader carefully chose not to use the phrase “my brother” to wish him on his birthday. Notably, Rahul Gandhi had jumped barricades, walked into a sweet store, and picked up a box of sweets for his ‘brother’ Stalin when he arrived in Coimbatore during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign.
The tension in the alliance is also not just because of Congress demanding an increase in the number of seats or for power sharing.
Though all these were posted on social media by senior Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu, the national party's idea of holding seat-sharing talks and looking for an option apart from actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) had also irked the DMK.
Kanimozhi initially ensured that the Congress put an end to the two-way channels opened by several stakeholders in the Congress party. This is because while the official talks were being held, backchannels were opened by a few stakeholders in the Congress with the TVK.
A clear message was sent to Kharge to put off all the social media messages by Congress MPs and other stakeholders in Tamil Nadu.
Notably, while speaking to THE WEEK after her session on the Politics of Language at THE WEEK’s Tamil Nadu Leadership Summit, she expressed hopes that the Congress leadership was not against the alliance itself, but only the numbers.
However, things hit a new high on March 2, as the DMK high command decided to forego the Congress, as the national party was unwilling to come to terms with it, and was demanding more than 41 seats.
By late evening on Wednesday, efforts by Kanimozhi and Chidambaram saw a repair in ties between the DMK and the Congress leadership. While Kanimozhi had been convincing CM Stalin to increase the numbers for Congress—from the existing 25 to at least 28—K.C. Venugopal, AICC general secretary chose to have a telephone conversation with the Congress MLAs in Tamil Nadu to hear their views about continuing in the alliance.
It is said during the conversation, at least 13 of the existing 17 MLAs suggested that the party remain in the alliance to have numbers in the Assembly.
Chidambaram's role was to hold talks with Stalin and also have a virtual conversation with Sonia Gandhi and Kharge to ensure the alliance continued. His personal rapport with Stalin and his efforts to brief Sonia and Kharge played an important role in bringing an end to the stalemate.
During the discussions, the DMK also wanted assurance from the Congress that the Rajya Sabha seat in DMK’s quota would not be given to Praveen Chakravarthy or someone who had been opposing the alliance.
Almost 36 hours after the talks between Chidambaram and Stalin, Congress leaders (including Chodankar) held talks with the party at the airport for more than an hour, which led to further complications.
However, at Venugopal’s behest, the Congress party officially signed the agreement with the DMK for 28 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat. It is said that the Congress is likely to nominate Meenakshi Natarajan, a Maharashtrian with roots in Tamil Nadu, as its candidate.
The Congress and DMK, after several rounds of mediations and deliberations might be joining forces for good, owing to Kanimozhi and Karti Chidambaram’s backdoor diplomacy and negotiations. By staying together, the Congress has ensured coherence in the alliance.
However, the tensions that had earlier threatened the alliance—such as each side's social media posts, Girish Chodankar’s press conferences, each side’s off-the-record statements in the media, and a number of closed-door meetings—have translated into an uneasiness within, which may influence how leaders from both parties work on the ground.
