Chennai: The TN Congress may try to downplay the party’s rout in the four state polls, but its poor show is sure to dominate the agenda at the DMK general council meet on December 15
Senior Congress leaders such as Union shipping minister G. K. Vasan have pretended to dismiss the defeat as ‘unexpected’ and ‘disappointing’, but his erstwhile ally and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi had more to say on the subject. A cautious Karunanidhi, who initially chose not to respond to the media’s ‘guess’, however, said that it was a setback as far as the Congress was concerned.
Admitting that the LS poll alliance would be the agenda for the general council meeting, DMK sources said that three factors — the Congress’s failure in the north, the deliberations of the recent state BJP executive meeting and DMK’s performance in the Yercaud bypoll — will dominate the proceedings at Anna Arivalayam on Sunday.
A senior DMK MP, referring to Kalaignar’s appeals to the BJP for the Yercaud bypoll, claimed that a good number of BJP executive members were in for allying with the DMK. Likewise, the general council will allot considerable time to discuss the DMDK’s decision of not only abstaining, but also not even indirectly supporting, the DMK in Yercaud.
“We backed the DMDK in Pudukottai, but it has not returned the favour. That’s something to watch out for,” another DMK MP said conceding that Vijayakanth had kept the rumour mill spinning by stating that he would tag along with the party that accepted his leadership.
The council will also discuss DMK’s performance in the Yercaud bypoll which took place under the guidance of its treasurer M.K. Stalin.
However, party insiders hinted that DMK would not spell out its alliance plans for the Lok Sabha polls, but some policy changes would be communicated to rank and file.
