A combination of factors has come in the way of the emergence of a strong, credible political formation as an alternative to the State’s two principal parties – the DMK and the AIADMK – despite attempts by several parties since 1977.
A perusal of the history of the attempts reveals that almost every party, which tied up with either of the two major parties at some point, had sought to project itself as an alternative, but to no avail.
Analysing why no strong alternative force could emerge till now, H. Raja, national secretary of the BJP, says that when AIADMK leaders M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa were at the helm of affairs, they had portrayed themselves as regional leaders with a nationalistic outlook, making it extremely difficult for other parties, especially national parties, to find space in the State.
K. Jayakumar, national secretary of the Congress, and B.S. Gnanadesikan, former president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and who is now in TMC(M), recall that the Congress, along with smaller parties, had made bids twice — the first in 1977 and the second in 1989. On both occasions, the vote share of the Congress-led alliance was around 20%. The party had abandoned this approach for the sake of securing seats in the Lok Sabha with the help of the DMK or the AIADMK. Consequently, the base of the State unit of the Congress got eroded systematically, according to them.
‘Make social pitch’
Tamilisai Soundararajan, president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, acknowledges that State units of national parties cannot take a stand on certain policy matters just as regional parties do. “Sometimes, we are perceived as not being vocal, even though it is on the basis of strong presentation of our position that the national leadership takes decisions on some issues,” she says , claiming that on the controversy surrounding jallikattu, the State unit had made its case very strongly.
G. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the State unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), believes that any attempt to create an alternative force to the DMK and the AIADMK should not merely rest on political grounds but also on social and economic spheres of activity. Only then will it win credibility of the public.
K. Balu, PMK spokesperson, says the other parties have found themselves as no match to the kind of resources that the DMK and the AIADMK could deploy at the time of elections.
However, all these leaders feel that the current situation, caused by the death of Jayalalithaa and the division in the AIADMK, has given a glimmer of hope to their parties.
