Storm in a teacup blows over in TN

The Congress and the DMK have ironed out their differences that cropped up in the wake of a minor storm caused by comments from the local chief on how the national party had been shortchanged in the allocation of seats for the local body polls in Tamil Nadu. It was unthinkable that Congress-DMK ties, which have withstood the test of time in a decade and a half despite a major bout of friction over the jailing of prominent DMK leaders in the 2G scam, would be jeopardised by someone ranting over seats in local polls like panchayats and other civic bodies.

TNCC chief K.S. Azahgiri, reportedly a loyalist of P. Chidambaram, may have been flying kites on a non-existent theme of dissatisfaction in an ally. As discord ruled, there were even whispers of the Tamil Nadu Congress considering tying up with matinee hero Rajinikanth’s political party, though it is still in a nebulous state. The local chieftain has been put in his place by the high command, which knows well the value of the DMK in sustaining the Congress Party’s anti-BJP coalition at the national level. In telling him to make up with DMK president Stalin, the Congress was in a clear survival mode, but pragmatically so.

The Congress, in power on its own steam in only four major states — Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — needs its allies in states where the regional parties hold sway, much like the DMK in Tamil Nadu. And Stalin has been one of its staunchest allies, who incidentally was also the first among the partners to project Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate before the 2019 elections, something that Mamata Banerjee of Trinamul Congress was never likely to agree to. And if were not for the DMK helping its ally to win eight MP seats, the Congress may have ended with a far lesser tally in 2019 than its 2014 low.

The TNCC chief may have been exaggerating his own importance while jeopardising the alliance just over a year short of the 2021 summer polls to the Tamil Nadu Assembly.  The State election scene, overwhelmingly in favour of DMK+ in Lok Sabha elections with a 38-1 margin, saw the AIADMK claw back with sufficient wins in crucial Assembly bypolls, including the two seats in the last of them held most recently that gave them a clear working majority.  

The scenario of an uninterrupted Dravidian duopoly of 52 years could change drastically if the two actors, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, who are promising to clean up the political scene, primarily with regard to corruption thought to be rampant in the rule of either Munnnetra Kazhagam (progressive party), join hands. Their united front, which could play a disruptive role, might make a significant difference to poll percentages. Even then, the Congress’ prospects would be rosy only in its existing arrangement with DMK.