Chennai: Things have come a full circle for the Congress in Tamil Nadu in a decade and a half. And so did the wheel for the DMK, whÂich has dumped its erstwhile ally in a deep hole.
Like in 1999, the Congress has been reduced to a political pariah in the state with none of the Dravidian majors offering to carry it piggyback this time. The DMK, whÂich remained in power at the Centre since 1999 and closed the doors for both the Congress and BJP now, is now left scheming alternate alliance options for 2014.
The BJP, which nurtures dreams of NaMo led race to ‘7 Race Course Road’, has admitted to engaging ‘political brokers’ like Tamilaruvi MaÂnian to cobble up a non-DMK and non-AIADMK alliance with neutral parties instantly willing to follÂow the leadership of their Prime Ministerial caÂndidate Narendra Modi.
The DMK, which won 18 of the 22 seats it contested despite riding against the pro-Eelam wave in 2009, at this juncture, has only Vijayakanth’s DMDK to negotiate ,besÂides relatively smaller players like MMK, IUML and Dalit outfits like VCK, PT and a couple of other fledgling caste outfits to tag along.
A senior DMK MP, who described Kalaignar’s ‘vituperative’ attack on Congress as the “last word”, said the decision was taken with 2016 Assembly polls in mind. “Of course, we might get a few extra MPs if we go with BJP, but in the state polls in 2016, we will lose minority votes, which accounts for 20 per cent of the electorate. That must have influenced the decision,” he said.
Another party senior, who admitted to opening channels with VijayaÂkanth’s brother-in-law and DMDK youth wing secretary L K Sudeesh, was not averse to conceding that going alone with merely MMK or IUML or Dalit parties would only give AIADMK an edge.
However, the DMK is not alone in sending feelers to ‘Captain’ who recently boasted that he would ally only with parties accepting his leadership. If the BJP has empÂloyed Tamilaruvi Manian to lure him, some ConÂgrÂess seniors are mulling reoÂpening negotiations with the actor-politician.
However, a Congress senior close to G K Vasan admitted they would forfeit deposit in all seats even if they forge an alliance of DMDK and minority outfits. The optimistic Congress senior believes that the categorical ‘no’ from DMK would encourage the AIADMK to call them later or the revival of the Vasan-led TMC would be make both the Dravidian majors rethink closer to the polls.
BJP leader L Ganesan who ruled out an alliance with the AIADMK by stating that there could not be two PM candidates in one alliance, denied holding any official talks in TN and said the state BJP shares “neither special intimacy nor enmity” with Vijayakanth.
CPI leader Mahendran terÂmed Kalaignar’s annouÂncÂements as pressure tactics and said the political scenario would not pan out differently. Observers do not rule out a scenario with both the BJP and Congress going without Parliamentary representation from TN in the event of the two DraÂviÂdian majors ditching them.
