Differences rattle DMK-Congress alliance

What had set the cat among the pigeons was the assertion of DMK's former Union Minister Jagatratchagan, MP, entrusted with party affairs in Puducherry. At a party fora earlier this week, he claimed that the party would contest all the 30 seats in the UT, rattling the Congress. Along with this, speculation was rife that a section of the DMK leaders in north TN was pressing for an alliance with the PMK by dumping the Congress, writes R Lennin, Senior Reporter, ETV Bharat.

Chennai: Fissures have started surfacing in the DMK-Congress alliance with the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) showing keen interest to join hands and work together with actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) in the upcoming assembly elections, triggering speculations about electoral calculations of the national party.

It all started with TNCC president K S Alagiri extending an invite to the versatile actor to strengthen secular forces. “We welcome Kamal Haasan's MNM to the DMK-Congress alliance in general and support the Congress in particular,” he had said at Erode on Wednesday. Coming as it is in the wake of the DMK setting its sight on Puducherry, the lone southern state where the Congress is in power, this has set political tongues wagging.

The Congress' olive branch to Hassan is also construed either as a bargaining chip with the DMK during seat-sharing talks or as an indication of the party charting an independent course in the event of severing its ties with the Dravidian major.

What had set the cat among the pigeons was the assertion of DMK's former Union Minister Jagatratchagan, MP, entrusted with party affairs in Puducherry. At a party fora earlier this week, he claimed that the party would contest all the 30 seats in the UT, rattling the Congress. Along with this, speculation was rife that a section of the DMK leaders in north TN was pressing for an alliance with the PMK by dumping the Congress.

While the Congress, which is on the wane, occupies the Centrist space, the MNM is a new claimant to that. As such, the Congress wooing Hassan with an Olive branch, despite he keeping equidistance from the DMK and AIADMK, is quite understandable. For, even during the 2019 LS poll, the national party had lobbied unsuccessfully with the DMK to accommodate the MNM in the secular combine. The DMK had vetoed it, forcing Hassan to contest alone. In many urban centres, the MNM had performed well and secured a vote share of 3.72%, on its debut in elections. According to analysts, Hassan has been able to poach the AIADMK's support base.

Stating that both Congress and MNM are wedded to secularism, Alagiri pointed out, “since Kamal alone keeps talking about secularism, we call upon him to speak the same in our stage.”

Similarly, a few days ago Congress MP Karti. P Chidambaram has urged the MNS' leader to be part of the DMK-Congress alliance. In his view, if the MNM wanted to succeed in mainstream politics, it should join the DMK alliance. In response, top functionaries of MNM have maintained that it was for their leader (Kamal) to decide on the invite. They also argued that it was wrong to say that the MNM would not even win a single seat without entering into a political alliance in the state.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Murali Abbas, spokesperson of MNM said, “the present political scenario in the state clearly indicates that there is a felt need for a third alternative to the Dravidian parties. Sensing this, the Congress in Tamil Nadu has realised the importance of MNM in the political domain though Kamal had made it clear that the party will not have any tie-up with either the DMK or the AIADMK . If the Congress is extending an olive branch, we welcome it.” The MNM hopes that the Congress too entertains the idea of a third front, he added.

Asked about tie-up with other political parties, his reply was in the negative. “We will not stoop for joining an alliance, but parties which desire to sail with us are welcome,” he explained.

Reacting to this development, DMK Organising Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, R.S Bharathi, said the Congress invite to Hassan was the personal view of TNCC president KS Alagiri. “If there is any internal political tussle in the DMK, we will sort it out amicably. Congress is in our alliance and the DMK would never exert pressure on our allies. They are free to air their views,” he clarified.