CHENNAI: After six days of hectic parleys and speculation, the Congress on Sunday finally inked a poll pact with the DMK, but not without a nagging feeling among DMK cadre that the delay in finalising the deal and the bad blood spilt in the process, may return to haunt the alliance.
As per the agreement, the grand old party will contest 25 Assembly seats and the Kanniyakumari Parliamentary seat, where bypolls will be held on April 6. “The DMK should have cordially convinced other parties of the situation. It shouldn’t have dragged the alliance talks, and in the end, allocated very few seats to other parties.
All our alliance partners, except the TVK, have been with us for the last four years. The agreements should have been completed last December. Our candidates should be electioneering in their constituencies now,” a former DMK MLA said, on condition of anonymity.
He conceded that things could have been handled better. Fearing that alliance parties’ cadre now won’t campaign wholeheartedly for the combine, the former MLA said, “As of today (Sunday), 90% of the seat-sharing talks are over, but I don’t know how the on-the-ground campaign activities will come along.” While explaining that it all boils down to the gameplan, he conceded that, “The DMK should contest in maximum seats to prevent BJP’s back-door strategies.”
The Congress had been demanding 41 seats, while the DMK reasoned that its ally’s strike rate was only 20%, even if it were to get 41 seats, like in the last Assembly election. Veteran journalist A Raghavendra contrasted this with how the AIADMK inked pacts with the PMK, which until recently was protesting against the government seeking separate reservation for Vanniyars, and the BJP, which was initially reluctant to announce Edappadi K Palaniswami as the combine’s CM face.
Fighting not for power, but to keep our ideology alive, say Congress leaders
Veteran journalist A Raghavendra underlined, “However, the parleys at the DMK headquarters are far from smooth. Till last month, DMK seniors were trying to bring Kamal Haasan’s MNM and the PMK into its fold. There is no coordination in the party’s leadership. Now, it seems all the DMK’s allies are together only because they have a common enemy (Hindutva forces) and not because any harmony exists among themselves.”
Digital news portal Aram’s editor Savithiri Kannan claims the DMK did nothing to stop political consulting firm I-PAC from spreading messages to tarnish the Congress’ image. “Did they not know that any damage to Congress would harm the alliance? The Congress played a huge part in the alliance’s performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Likewise, any alliance that has the Communist parties would have the people’s trust since the people have much respect for them. Knowing this, former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi always gave a respectable number of Assembly constituencies to the Left parties,” Savithiri elaborated.
Projecting a united front now, the Congress said the aim was to defeat the BJP, which “is becoming a bigger disease than Covid”. Speaking to the media after signing the pact, AICC in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao and TNCC president KS Alagiri said, “The BJP is becoming a bigger disease than Covid. In Puducherry, where the Congress had a strong base, their intrusion destroyed the party’s organisational structure and toppled the government.”
“We reached an agreement with the DMK to leave no room for the BJP to win. We are in this alliance not for the government, but to keep our ideology alive,” Rao added. The upcoming elections are not for a change of government but are a war of two ideologies. We (DMK-Congress combine) should defeat the ideology (of BJP). We signed the pact based on instructions from Rahul Gandhi.”
He proceeded to play down the dwindling number of seats the Congress has got to contest for, saying ups and downs are common. “We shouldn’t weigh the party based on the number of seats it contests in,” he added. Highlighting the importance of a secular progressive alliance, Alagiri said, “To protect secularism, all (DMK-led alliance partners) should pull the secular-alliance car. We will win all 25 Assembly seats and the Kanniyakumari LS constituency.”
Asked if the Congress would seek a share in power if the DMK was voted to office, as there were reportedly talks of the BJP making such demands with the AIADMK, he said, “No, we have no such intentions.” “Our only aim now is to see that the secular front wins. The time for being satisfied or dissatisfied is over. Now, we are on the battlefield, and have to take on our opponents,” Rao asserted, adding that the decision to accept the DMK’s offer was made after consulting the party high command, and “there is no difference of opinion within our party on this issue”.
DMK sources, meanwhile, said their party didn’t want to drag the alliance talks, and sought to maintain the cordial relationship with Rahul Gandhi. “Hence, to their surprise, and to placate Congress cadre, Stalin offered an additional seat, compared to the previous offer,” they reasoned. A Congress delegation, led by Oommen Chandy, began the seat-sharing talks with the DMK on February 25, and held another round of talks on March 2. At a consultative meeting on March 5, Alagiri made an emotional speech, saying the DMK insulted Congress leaders by treating them as office boys. Congress cadre at the meeting then raised slogans against the alliance, and urged for the party to contest alone.
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