Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam joins Secular Progressive Alliance ahead of polls
Chennai: Putting to rest all speculations over DMDK’s coalition for the coming Assembly elections, general secretary, Premalatha Vijayakanth, walked into precincts of Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters in Chennai, on Thursday, carrying memories of her husband and party founder Vijayakanth, to confirm her joining the Secular Progressive Alliance, saying that it was the wish of majority of the party members.
Since its founding in 2005, the DMDK has never aligned with the DMK earlier. Apart from that, on Maha Sivarathri night, Premalatha had participated in the celebrations at the Isha yoga foundation near Coimbatore, along with AIADMK strongman S P Velumani and a slew of BJP leaders, triggering a wave of conjectures on a possible tie-up with the AIADMK-BJP alliance as most of the other parties had decided on whom to go with for the 2026 polls.
But Premalatha called on DMK president M K Stalin to pledge her support to the coalition and told the media that the terms and conditions would be announced later by Stalin. The talk is that the party would be given seven Assembly seats to contest and a nomination to the Rajya Sabha, though it has to be confirmed by Stalin.
Welcoming Premalatha, who has been efficiently running the party started by Vijaykanth, and other DMDK functionaries, into the alliance, Stalin, in a message on X, said the tie-up would contribute towards the progress of the State. He also said that it would enable the continuation of the DMK rule in the State.
Recalling the cordial relationship that Vijaykanth had with former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who would address him as ‘Vijay,’ Premalatha said the alliance forged on Thursday by both the parties had the blessings of both the late leaders.
She also said that she would be contesting in one of the constituencies allotted to the party and that the alliance had come about 10 years late – it was first mooted in 2016. To a question on the earlier rumours that she might align with the AIADMK, she said those were the media’s conjectures.
The sudden move by Premalatha has also rattled some leaders in the AIADMK-BJP alliance, who were hopeful of roping the DMDK into their camp, while Premalatha said that the decision was taken on the basis of the wishes of the party’s functionaries, who preferred partnership with the DMK. Even in the recent meeting of district secretaries, 60 percent of the leaders wanted to align with the DMK.
Celebrations also broke out in some places, like Ranipet, where DMK cadre lit firecrackers and distributed sweets on hearing about the finalization of the alliance.
The DMDK that contested the 2006 Assembly elections and the 2009 Lok Sabha polls on its own, went for a tie-up with the AIADMK in 2011 and managed to win seats that gave it the opposition party status. However, mass defections rendered the party ineffective later on.
In 2014, it was part of the NDA, and in the 2016 Assembly elections, it was spearheading the third force, Makkal Nala Kootani, that came a cropper.
For the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it went along with the NDA and in 2021, forged a tie-up with the AMMK for the Assembly polls that brought the DMK to power. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the first after the passing of party founder Vijayakanth in 2023, it was with the AIADMK. Now, it has come into the DMK fold.
