The DMK seems to have worked itself into a tight corner in its attempt re-elect party chief M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi to the Rajya Sabha, with the DMDK remaining unresponsive to its feelers and now even mulling abstention from voting in the elections to be held in July.
A senior MLA of the party told Express, “Captain has to date shown no interest in such an alliance. Even when some of us tried to bring up the issue, he has not responded.”
The party opined that allying with the DMK now might dent its image, even if it could aid in a pact to elect Vijayakant’s brother-in-law L K Sudhish to the Upper House when a vacancy arises next time, said the MLA.
He also added that there was a strong opinion within the party to approach the CPM, with which the DMDK was in alliance in the 2011 local body polls. “If we manage to earn their 10 votes, we are sure to send our candidate to the Upper House,” said the leader, whose party was also contending with the rebellion of five legislators who fell out of favour.
With 151 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the AIADMK is sure to bag four of the six seats in the July Elections. While there were talks that the party could support a CPI candidate for the fifth seat, sources indicated that it might field a candidate for the fifth vacancy as well.
The DMK finds itself in an unenviable position with only 23 sure-shot votes. Though five votes could have been secured with Congress support, that now looks bleak after the DMK walked out of the UPA.A senior TNCC leader, in fact, said there was now no mileage to derive for the party from supporting the DMK. “As far as we (TNCC) know, none from the DMK have approached our high command seeking support,” said a senior TNCC leader. Though it has not officially announced its candidate or if it would contest at all, the fact that the DMK sought to placate PMK founder S Ramadoss by sending Kanimozhi and M K Stalin to call on him at the hospital has strengthened rumors about its intentions. However, it is not clear if the Vanniyar outfit would assist the DMK, given that it has taken a strong anti-Dravidian party stand since the 2011 Assembly elections. The PMK has three MLAs in its fold.