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In Tamil Nadu, a deadlock continues among political parties over electoral alliances and seat sharing. They are expected to be finalised by next week, with negotiations and hard bargaining entering the final stage.
Political Uncertainty Ahead of Assembly Elections (Image Source: Internet)
Chennai: With less than two months to go for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the political situation seems to be fluid, as there are no clear indications about the likely poll alliances in the state. Both the Dravidian parties — DMK and AIADMK — are facing their own internal problems, while the Congress and BJP are trying to woo half a dozen sub-regional parties for electoral alliances.
In other words, as of today, the future of alliances in Tamil Nadu appears increasingly uncertain, with sub-regional parties like DMDK, MDK, PMK and the new entrant TVK party led by Tamil actor Vijay demanding more Assembly seats.
With ambitions rising among regional groups, negotiation talks have been failing. At present, all political parties, including the BJP, are busy finalising and fine-tuning their party manifestoes for the polls.
The ruling DMK alliance, led by Chief Minister M K Stalin, has not been able to find a solution over seat sharing with its old ally, the Congress, despite two rounds of talks.
Amid the deadlock, Chief Minister Stalin is willing to allot the Congress not more than 28 seats in the 234-member Assembly, while the Congress is seeking 35–40 seats. Sources said that next week, a final deal is expected to take place at a meeting between Chief Minister Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
As part of efforts to strengthen the DMK alliance, the Chief Minister reached out to actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK with an offer of six Assembly seats, but the latter is demanding a double-digit number.
The Left parties, CPM and CPI, are also demanding more seats. It may be recalled that this alliance, during the last Lok Sabha elections in 2024, virtually swept the polls, with the DMK winning 22 seats, Congress nine, and CPM and CPI two seats each.
On the other hand, the rift is wide open within the AIADMK between party General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
Once the differences are settled within the AIADMK, electoral alliances may be initiated. Because of these differences, the AIADMK could not open its account in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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Interestingly, the BJP, which wants to play a major role in Tamil Nadu politics, is keeping its cards close to its chest. Further, there are some internal differences within the BJP among state chief Nainar Nagendran and senior leaders Tamilisai Soundararajan and K Annamalai.
Once alliances are worked out and the manifesto is released, the BJP’s national leadership, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to enter the electoral field on a big scale, political pundits predict.
