Tamil Nadu: Election mood sets in among parties

Since top of the line parties like DMK, AIADMK and Congress have already activated their party machineries by forming a plethora of committees connected with election work with one of them to decide on the alliance and another to prepare the manifesto, most political camps have been seeing hectic activity in the last few days.

After a top level meeting of leaders at the AIADMK headquarters on Lloyds Road on Thursday to prepare the manifesto , former Minister D Jayakumar told media persons that its manifesto for 2024 polls would be ‘super hero,’ paving the way for it to romp home in the hustings. As for alliance, he kept the party’s doors open for anyone to step in.

Asked about the rumours that AMMK of T T Dhinakaran and the breakaway faction of former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam might join hands with the BJP, Jayakumar said that those two groups were of no consequence in the elections.

But none of the major coalitions – spearheaded by the DMK, AIADMK and BJP – would dismiss as inconsequential the instruction given by actor Vijay to the members of his Makkal Iyakkam to get ready for the elections by forming booth committees.

Though the actor had been harbouring political aspirations for long, of late he had been showing keen interest in taking the plunge and it was widely speculated that it might happen in 2026 when the State would go for the next Assembly polls. Now the sudden announcement has created a stir in political circles though it is too early to predict what would happen.

The meeting that Vijay had convened at Panaiyur for his district level office bearer had drawn over 150 functionaries of Makkal Iyakkam. The political grapevine had it that Vijay might, as a prelude to the launch of his party, might announce his support to one of coalitions, thus upsetting the political applecart.

However, the conventional parties are going ahead with their preparation and the DMK had already held a few meetings. The manifesto committee, headed by Kanmozhi, has already planned on a state-wide tour to get the views of the common people. The party is also planning to start seat sharing talks with allies, starting with the Congress on January 28.

Since it is learnt that the DMK leaders want the allocation of seats to the allies to be cut down drastically as they want to have a robust party team in Lok Sabha, the talks with the Congress might run into rough weather, at least initially. Congress president Mallikarjuan Kharge has planned to visit the State on February 13 to first talk with TNCC functionaries and then Chief Minister M K Stalin.

In 2019, the DMK allocated 10 seats, including the Puducherry constituency, to the Congress, which managed to win nine of them, thus adding to the strength of 52 seats in the House. Similarly, both the Communist parties were allotted two seats each and they bagged all of them, forming 80 per cent of the members of the Communist bloc in Parliament.

Now those allies and also the others like the VCK are keen on at least contesting the same number of seats again. But since the DMK expects more parties to join their alliance ahead of the polls, particularly the Makkal Needhi Maiam of Kamal Hassan, they want to reduce the numbers for other allies, which might cause resentment.

So, if the DMK persists with its plan to cut the number of seats, there could be a possible realignment as the AIADMK after breaking ties with the BJP has been looking out for an ally to reestablish its secular credentials. It is learnt that AIADMK had sent feelers to the Congress with a promise to allocate more seats than what they could expect from the DMK.

Meanwhile, the Congress also held a meeting for the preparation of the manifesto with top leaders like P Chidambaram, TNCC chief K S Alagiri, national leader Pradeep Chakravorthy attending it. The mood, it is said, in the Congress camp was to not make a compromise with the DMK on seat allocation.

The BJP, which wants to make a mark in the State by winning a few elections, is silently working on forming a front of its own with the smaller parties when it was an ally of the AIADMK. With some of the parties developing cold feet in the aftermath of AIADMK’s departure, the BJP by using its clout at the national level is hopeful of getting some allies and also winning a few seats.