The Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) has received ‘positive signals’ from the ruling AIADMK and its leader G.K. Vasan is expected to meet Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the next two days to hold seat-sharing talks.
“We have been informed that the meeting may take place in a couple of days,” said a senior TMC leader and former MLA.
According to AIADMK sources, a team of senior ministers is holding talks with Mr. Vasan directly. “Initially, the offer was only for eight seats. Now, the party might offer up to 15 seats,” said a party senior.
The TMC’s fortunes have come full circle, as it seeks the company of the AIADMK yet another time. In its original form, the TMC was started on an anti-AIADMK plank in 1996, but lost the plank five years later when party founder G.K. Moopanar backed Ms. Jayalalithaa in the 2001 Assembly elections.
Moopanar, in the 1999 Lok Sabha election, decided to keep away from both the DMK and AIADMK. But his efforts did not succeed, the TMC moved towards the AIADMK, along with the Congress, in 2001. After Moopanar’s death in 2002, his son G.K. Vasan merged the TMC with the Congress. However, he revived the party in 2014 following differences of opinion with the Congress leadership again.
“We do not have any option in this election. The space for political parties other than the AIADMK and the DMK cannot be created without weakening one of them,” said a senior TMC leader justifying his party’s decision to align with the AIADMK.
Though the TMC might have got a good bargain with the DMK, party sources said Mr. Vasan could not reconcile himself to the idea of aligning with the party, as the DMK leadership had spurned his request for a Rajya Sabha seat.
In its second innings, the prospects of the TMC appeared more promising under the affable and politically-savvy Vasan, as he seemed to have left behind the negative image that the Congress carried, particularly in view of allegations that it had failed to prevent civilian casualties in the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war.
However, some party seniors feel that the TMC, wittingly or otherwise, allowed a campaign to gain ground that it was merely biding its time for an electoral tie-up with the AIADMK.
“What else will one gather when the leadership is silent on most of the issues, including prohibition, concerning the State? It forgot that it has duties as a regional party,” said another senior leader.
A team of senior ministers is said to be holding talks with Mr. Vasan directly
