Cong, DMK to discuss alliance

The Congress and the DMK could clinch an alliance for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections this week, with party chief Sonia Gandhi sending Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik to Chennai in this regard.

Mr Azad and Mr Wasnik, the AICC incharge for Tamil Nadu, are expected to meet DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi on February 13, sources said. According to them, the Congress wants an honourable deal and will suggest that it should get the same number of seats as the last Assembly polls. Like the Left Front in West Bengal, the DMK in Tamil Nadu wants a credible alliance against the AIADMK led by Ms Jayalalithaa.

The DMK was one of the architects of the UPA formed against the BJPled NDA at the Centre in 2004. It had shared power with the Congress and its allies for about nine years. It is unclear whether or not the BJP would be a part of the AIADMK- led front although the two parties are friendly at the Centre. There have been indications recently that the DMK and the Congress may tie up. In December last year, Mr Karunanidhi had said that the Congress will be invited to join the alliance led by his party for the coming Assembly elections.

Mr Karunanidhi’s statement had come nearly three years after his party snapped ties with the Congress. The Congress has been out of power in Tamil Nadu for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian parties — DMK or AIADMK. At times it has contested alone but without much success. The AICC has given signals that the decision on alliances would be taken keeping in mind the aim of checking the ruling BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the view of the state units on tie- ups in their areas. Incidentally, with 18 MPs, the DMK was the second largest ally of the Congress in the UPA II after the Trinamul Congress, which had 19 MPs.