Just as it became clear that Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was emerging as the top party in Tamil Nadu, a section of the Congress muttered not-so-quietly to each other: “I told you so.” HT has confirmed with at least three key people in the Congress that they seriously considered dumping their long-time allies, the state’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and going with Vijay in the run-up to the assembly elections.
This would explain why the two-decade-old alliance went through a very frosty phase during the elections. Notably, there were no joint rallies or appearances between Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and the Congress’ Lok Sabha leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Follow live updates on election results in seats Vijay is contesting.
“It is true that the TVK was in touch with us till the last minute, offering 75 seats,’’ said a Congress MP who asked not to be named.
“This issue divided the party and eventually, it was a collective decision to stay with the DMK.”
A second MP who also not to be named said Vijay’s line of communication was with Girish Chodankar, the general secretary of the party, instead of with the top leaders like Rahul Gandhi or Mallikarjun Kharge. Another leader said a businessman was acting as the intermediary.
It’s easy to see why a section of the party favoured ditching their older allies. While no one saw TVK coming in at pole position, the Congress's internal surveys indicated that Vijay would get a sizable chunk of the votes.
{{/usCountry}}It’s easy to see why a section of the party favoured ditching their older allies. While no one saw TVK coming in at pole position, the Congress's internal surveys indicated that Vijay would get a sizable chunk of the votes.
{{/usCountry}}Eventually, the top leadership favoured staying with Stalin. “The logic was simple – we had to back Stalin’s ideology. If Rahul Gandhi was taking on the BJP at the Centre, Stalin was taking on that ideology in the state.”
They felt that Vijay, with his apolitical worldview, of appealing to people without any such baggage, didn’t align with their ideas. That turned out to be a major miscalculation. They didn’t account for the extent of the voters’ anger over what many now call the “arrogance of sitting legislators”.
“I think that if he falls short of the majority, we will still back him. But yes, we could have shared power with him,’’ said a third leader, with retrospective wisdom.
As the people of Tamil Nadu rejected the established Dravidian parties of DMK and AIADMK, opting instead to invest their hope in the newcomer, the Congress will again have to figure out why they miscalculated it so wrong.