Chennai: The reported open resentment of some leaders in the Congress over the DMK for those anti-Sanatana Dharma and Gomutra remarks is seen as a ray of hope by the AIADMK, which has been aspiring to get a toehold in INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance) after walking out of the NDA in September, since it anticipates a showdown leading to the DMK leaving the national level opposition coalition.
With many top leaders in the Congress now seeing the DMK as an albatross around their neck, particularly after the recent electoral debacle in States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the AIADMK is said to have intensified its effort to get closer to the Congress at the national level with the party’s Rajya Sabha leader M Thambidurai lobbying in New Delhi.
The AIADMK is trying to tell the national leaders of the INDIA coalition that the popularity of the DMK has started to wane after the series ED raids and other allegations against the ruling party leaders and has now hit the rock bottom with Cyclone Michaung bringing unmitigated sufferings to the people.
By replacing the DMK with the AIADMK, the national alliance would stand to gain as it could help them win more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that are just a few months away, the lobbyists, including an independent election strategist, now with the Congress but was earlier advising the AIADMK, have been trying to convince the national opposition leaders.
The particular election strategist had even been instrumental in Congress leaders speaking to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami during the 2022 Presidential election and seeking support for the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha. Palaniswami is said to have politely refused as they had already committed to support the candidate of the NDA.
Now that the AIADMK is out of the NDA and is also keen on shedding the image of a pro-Hindutva party that it gained after aligning with the BJP, it is trying to revive the Congress support, though it is believed that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was only interested in having a tie-up with the DMK and not the AIADMK.
Apart from the national leaders of the Congress, who have developed an antipathy towards the DMK after the ‘Eradication of Sanatana Dharma’ speech of DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, even a section of leaders in the TNCC would prefer to switch loyalties and align with the AIADMK.
One major reason for the State Congress leaders’ opposition to the DMK was the perception among all the alliance partners that they were being subjected to a step motherly treatment by the alliance leader and never bothering to have any dialogue with them on any issue.
Though it is the low level leaders of the Communist parties who had several grievances against the DMK regime, they felt hamstrung in even expressing their displeasure through the organization of protests, which is their wont, which had led to the building up of a strong resentment against the government.
On the other side even Palaniswami, who is desperate to build an alliance of disparate parties, is not averse to tying up with the Communists parties. He wants to fight the Lok Sabha elections in league with a national party, said an AIADMK source.
So, the AIADMK wants a total realignment of political forces in the State and would like all the smaller parties to rally around it with a view to weaken the DMK and also gain the role of the leader of a grand alliance and had been discreetly wooing the DMK's allies offering them more seats to contest to no avail so far
Anyway Palaniswami and his acolytes would prefer the Congress as an ally for the Lok Sabha elections and are hence pulling strings to get into the coalition by cashing in on the anti-DMK sentiments that had gripped the national parties of late, particularly after a DMK MP called the north Indian states as Gomutra States.
Perhaps a clearer picture would emerge on the composition of the INDIA coalition after its members meet on December 19 to decide on their future course of action against the BJP, particularly in the Lok Sabha polls.
