WITH the countdown having begun for the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, each the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK alliances have hit roadblocks.
The AIADMK is in a repair as allies BJP and RSS wish to facilitate re-entry into the get together of ousted basic secretary V Okay Sasikala, the closest aide of the late J Jalayalithaa. On the opposite aspect, the DMK is refusing handy out extra seats to the Congress.
A senior AIADMK minister mentioned a late-night assembly of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Chief Minister Edappadi Okay Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam of the AIADMK in Chennai on Sunday night time wasn’t conclusive. But the BJP is predicted to maintain urgent the Sasikala concern within the coming days via a number of channels and emissaries.
This stays the principle stumbling block now within the alliance, an AIADMK chief mentioned. “Seat-sharing talks are almost over. Prime ally PMK will get 23 seats, the BJP will get 21 constituencies as well the ticket for the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat (whose sitting Congress MP died of Covid-19 last year).” The AIADMK will contest 170 seats.
In 2016, of the 234 seats, the AIADMK contested in 227 seats and gained 136; the PMK and BJP contested individually and didn’t open account. The DMK fought in 178 and gained 89 seats.
The AIADMK minister mentioned, “The BJP believes Sasikala’s re-entry would help the AIADMK-NDA alliance. But while Panneerselvam was okay with this, Palaniswami wasn’t. His camp is probably apprehensive of Sasikala (who called the shots during Jayalalithaa’s time) capturing the party if allowed back. He fears that leaders would become her dummies.”
That Sasikala nonetheless wields clout within the get together is evident. The AIADMK chief quoted above mentioned virtually half the get together needs her to return. “At least 50% of the leaders think it will strengthen the party. Many from the delta and southern districts are Sasikala loyalists. Panneerselvam also agrees with the BJP plan.”
A senior BJP chief mentioned they’d ready a listing of 60 potential seats they might contest and demanded 33 seats from the AIADMK. While claiming ignorance in regards to the AIADMK’s declare of giving 21 seats to the BJP, the chief hinted they’d be okay with this quantity if the Sasikala faction was accommodated within the alliance.
The issues are more durable for the DMK, that sees itself as having a profitable shot. Chief M Okay Stalin is main a a lot larger alliance, together with the Congress, Left, and different smaller events. He is insistent that the DMK contest 170 to 180 seats at the least.
However, talks with the Congress have been caught. “The Congress has demanded a minimum 34 seats while the DMK is of the view that they cannot give more than 18 seats,” mentioned a Congress chief from the state. In 2016, the Congress had gained solely 8 of the 41 seats it contested. The solely different get together to open its account within the state in 2016 other than the AIADMK, DMK and Congress was IUML, with 1 seat.
Stalin’s powerful stance within the seat talks with the Congress additionally has to do along with his perception that this election — the primary with out supremos Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi within the image — is in his pocket, establishing him lastly as his father’s rightful inheritor.
“Not only his professional strategist Prashant Kishor, who does not see faces but only figures and data, but Stalin’s closest circle in the party and family too have given him the impression that the DMK can win on its own,” mentioned a DMK chief.
Warning towards this “overconfidence”, the chief added, “Stalin had adopted the same approach in 2016, leading to the DMK’s defeat. Hope he won’t repeat the mistake.”
At the identical time, the high-profile highway exhibits of Rahul Gandhi up to now few days haven’t gone down effectively with the DMK. “These have become exclusive programmes of the Congress. That is unfortunate,” the DMK chief identified.
Should the seat talks within the two camps fall via, it can damage each the AIADMK and DMK. That will depart them pitted towards not solely the Congress and Sasikala but additionally smaller events similar to Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam.
