While the DMDK had categorically declared that it would face the Assembly elections alone, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said on Monday that he was still hopeful of a DMK-DMDK tie-up. His statement surprised many including second-rung leaders of the party, who were of the view that an electoral alliance with the DMDK was a closed chapter.
Interacting with journalists after addressing a meeting of district secretaries, Mr Karunanidhi said the hope he expressed earlier that the DMDK would align with the DMK was still alive. However, he refused to give a date for a formal announcement. “I cannot say which month and which date. I cannot identify a date [for announcement regarding alliance]. But it could happen,” he said.
The remark came a day after DMDK president Vijayakant took to Facebook to appeal to voters not to vote for the AIADMK or the DMK and end the close to 50-year rule of the Dravidian parties. At a public meeting in Chennai recently, Mr. Vijayakant had asserted that he did not hold negotiations with any party, and news reports which talked about such developments were mere rumours.
District secretaries surprised
Mr. Karunanidhi’s statement has surprised partymen on both sides. Though this suggests the two parties were still in talks, sources in the DMDK said this was certainly not the case. “We have no idea why he said that. Our stipulation is we will only include parties that accept our leadership in the alliance. We are pretty sure the DMK won’t accept this demand,” said a senior DMDK leader. The leader added that “malicious rumours” were being spread that party functionaries were unhappy with the decision to go alone. “The decision has enthused our cadres, who think the time has come to come out of the shadows of the AIADMK and the DMK,” the leader asserted.
Highly placed sources in the DMK too said an alliance with the DMDK “was close to impossible” since no talks had taken place between the two parties in the last fortnight.
In fact, Mr. Karunanidhi’s statement took even DMK district secretaries by surprise. “Nobody made any big remark about an alliance with the DMDK in the district secretaries meeting. The leaders too did not say the talks were on. So we do not know why our leader made this remark,” said a district secretary. Some of the district leaders expressed concern that the DMK was being attacked the same way as the ruling AIADMK by the People’s Welfare Front and the PMK, and wanted a strategy to counter the criticism. Observers feel the Mr. Karunanidhi’s statement portrays the DMK as being weak. “The statement is a double-edged sword. If Mr. Karunanidhi doesn’t succeed in pulling the DMDK in, it will hurt the party’s image. The level to which the DMK has climbed down in seeking the support of the DMDK is, in my view, unprecedented,” said political commentator ‘Azhi’ Senthilnathan.
