CHENNAI: The Congress breaking ranks with the DMK-led alliance in the state and forging a post-poll pact with the TVK has got the Dravidian major in a fix, not just in Tamil Nadu but also on the national stage where Parliament’s arithmetic demands coalition numbers.
While a few of Congress leaders have played down the fallout, stating that they would have a working relationship at the national level, political observers in the state say they will now have to navigate a more complicated terrain inside Parliament, where both parties still sit under the INDIA bloc umbrella but without an understanding at the state-level.
Arun Kumar, assistant professor of political science department at a private university, said the post-poll alliance of the TVK and the Congress has left the DMK in a tight spot.
“The DMK is very sure of its anti-BJP stand. Though the Congress has left the broad INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu, the DMK will remain firm against the BJP, cooperating with the Congress on issue basis at the national level,” said Arun Kumar.
The immediate concern for the DMK is the floor of the Lok Sabha, where the party’s MPs will need to take positions on legislation and no-confidence scenarios where the Congress’s number is pivotal, Arun Kumar said.DMK party insiders, however, insist that the rupture is driven by the state’s shifting electoral dynamics following the TVK’s strong debut.
“In Tamil Nadu, though the Congress went with the TVK, the DMK along with its other alliance partners will continue to maintain its position against the BJP without the grand old party – like in 2014 to 2016,” Arun Kumar pointed out, referring to a period when the DMK operated outside any formal alliance structure and still held its anti-BJP line firm.
Sunil Kumar, assistant professor of political science department at Hindustan University, said the DMK will continue to support the Congress on ideological grounds in Parliament.
Central legislations touching on federal issues are likely to be the first real test of whether the DMK-Congress ‘working relationship’ at the national level can hold without a state-level alliance.