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DMK allies reluctant to join hands with AIADMK but seek more seats
The development comes as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has started sending feelers with a promise of more seats, after it recently severed its ties with the NDA
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Secular Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu is set to remain intact, for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but the allies demanding seats higher than what they had contested in 2019 parliamentary polls, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
The development comes as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has started sending feelers with a promise of more seats, after it recently severed its ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
As the coalition may become bigger with parties such as Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) expected to join the DMK, the parties who have been in the coalition for a longer period, have demanded a larger share in the seat sharing pie.
The AIADMK breaking ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 25, has made it a three-cornered contest in Tamil Nadu as the DMK and its main ally Congress and others in the Secular Progressive Alliance are part of the INDIA bloc.
However, the DMK wants to maintain the same seat sharing formula followed during the 2019 parliamentary polls. In 2019, Congress contested from 9 seats, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Left parties- Communist Party of India and CPI(Marxist) -contested from two each, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi (KMDK) and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) contested from one seat each. The alliance swept the polls winning 38 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats. It lost only one seat in Theni to AIADMK’s O P Ravindranath who, along with his father O Panneerselvam, was expelled from the party. “This is a winning formula so there will not be much changes,” said a senior DMK leader, who is involved in seat sharing talks. “There would be changes in candidates and constituencies. We cannot afford to make any mistake. The aim is to continue restricting the BJP in Tamil Nadu.”
But parties such as the VCK and the Left are planning to demand at least a couple of more seats. An AIADMK- VCK combine will give the partnership an edge in at least 15 parliamentary seats in northern Tamil Nadu where Dalits are predominant, said a leader from the latter party explaining that the Dravidian party is trying to woo them. “AIADMK will definitely offer us more seats since the political situation has changed. But, we want to remain in the secular alliance,” the leader said. “So we will negotiate for more. We also want to contest using our own symbol.”
The left parties too want an increase in share. “Obviously, we want to contest from more seats this time,” said a CPI(M) leader, who had a meeting with chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin last week. “We cannot lose ground for Kamal’s party to get more seats. But, there is no question of going with the AIADMK. They have supported whatever the BJP did in the past nine years, so why should we trust what they do now because they have suddenly left the alliance?” These leaders also doubt that the AIADMK will eventually strike a deal with the BJP as the elections near or in a post poll scenario.
Earlier, the alliance members, particularly Congress, had expressed displeasure with the allotment of seats during the 2021 assembly elections. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is also facing internal conflict over the replacement of K S Alagiri as the state unit chief. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was in Chennai for DMK’s conference on women’s rights on Saturday, had held an hour-long meeting with TNCC members. “She wanted us to put on a show of strength with the DMK and strengthen the coalition,” a Congress leader familiar with the development said.
