Tamil Nadu: Why DMK’s political isolation threatens SPA's future as local body polls loom

The once immutable tectonic plates of Tamil Nadu’s political landscape seem to be undergoing a seismic shift, leaving the old order in ruins. For over a decade, the state’s electoral logic was dictated by a rigid bipolarity—two massive blocs locked in a zero-sum game.

But this old norm is gone once for all. Tamil Nadu has transformed into a high-stakes political situation where traditional loyalties have evaporated, replaced by a fluid realpolitik that prioritises tactical survival over legacy alliances.

A day after the CPI(M) state secretary P. Shanmugam said that there was no alliance called the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu anymore, CPI state secretary M. Veerapandian on Thursday clarified that “we cannot be part of the DMK-led alliance under the current circumstances" because "the situation is not allowing it".

This comes two days after the DMK president and former chief minister M.K.Stalin at one of his party meetings said that it was the DMK which allowed its alliance partners to extend support to the Vijay-led TVK government. 

The SPA was the alliance led by the DMK in the state which included both the Left parties, Vaiko’s MDMK, Thol. Thirumavalavan’s VCK, the Congress and a few other small outfits.

Veerapandian’s words at a press conference at Coimbatore acted as a canary in the coal mine, signalling that the veteran players of the Left—and indeed the entire state—are recalibrating for a future where no single party holds the centre of gravity.

It seems the SPA, which served as the bedrock of Tamil Nadu politics for years, has effectively dissolved. Veerapandian added that the environment was no longer "conducive" for the CPI to remain tethered to the DMK.

The statements by the leaders of the two Left parties, however, reveal the total collapse of the DMK-led bloc. This is not mere friction between partners but a mass exodus.

With the Congress having already withdrawn, and both the VCK and IUML participating in the TVK government, the DMK finds itself in a position of unprecedented regional isolation.

This shift signifies a massive power transition away from the DMK as the state’s sole gravitational political strength. With this the smaller parties also seem to be asserting their right to take “independent political decisions”, signalling that the era of following a single dominant lead is over.

The emergence of the TVK as a dominant democratic force seems to have completely rewritten the state’s electoral playbook.

In a move of pure strategic distancing from the past, the Left parties offered external support to the TVK government, framing it as a political duty to honour the public’s verdict. Apparently the Left parties, the VCK—and the others validating the TVK government’s early stance in issues like the two-language policy and Thirupparankundram—have served as a litmus test, proving to the DMK that this new force can maintain ideological continuity while disrupting the status quo.

Furthermore, former allies of the DMK, including the Left and the Congress, seem to categorise the TVK alongside the DMK as the state’s primary force, effectively rehabilitating the AIADMK into the fold of potential collaborators. 

With just eight more months to go for the local body polls—as indicated by PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna—the alliance parties moving towards the TVK is no surprise.

Rural local bodies in 28 districts, which comprise 9,581 village panchayats, 314 panchayat union councils, and 28 district panchayats, already do not have elected representatives.

Apart from these, in nine districts, local body terms will end in the next four months. The terms of all major urban local bodies will also come to an end in February next year.

In a recent meeting, Aadhav Arjuna challenged Opposition leader Udhayanidhi Stalin to get his party, the DMK, to win at least one mayoral seat in the upcoming local body elections.

To hold positions in the local bodies and win a few mayoral positions, the alliance parties will have to go along with the TVK.