DMDK walks out of AIADMK-led alliance

Actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) on Tuesday quit the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led alliance after seat-sharing talks failed. “The DMDK held (three) rounds of talks for an alliance with AIADMK. Since there was a difference between the demand and the offer, the district secretaries meeting of the DMDK resolved unanimously to walk out of the AIADMK alliance,” Vijayakanth announced in a statement after the party’s internal meeting on Tuesday.

The DMDK initially demanded 41 seats — the same number it had contested in alliance with the AIADMK in the 2011 assembly elections, the last time it was in alliance with the AIADMK. It subsequently scaled down its demand to 25, which was also not met by the AIADMK. The ruling party has so far allotted 23 seats to the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and 20 to the BJP in addition to a parliamentary seat in Kanyakumari, which will see a bypoll following the death of its sitting MP due to Covid-19. The DMDK has been hinting in the past few weeks that it would contest all 234 seats alone if its demands were not met. However, the statement did not mention the DMDK’s further course of action.

Soon after the DMDK’s decision, a war of words broke out between the two parties. Vijayakanth’s brother-in-law L K Sudeesh and son Vijay Prabhakaran said the AIADMK leaders would lose their deposits in the elections slated for April 6. “It is Deepawali for us cadre today,” Sudeesh told reporters, adding, “K P Munusamy (senior AIADMK leader) is not working for the AIADMK but a sleeper cell for the PMK.” Addressing party cadre in Cuddalore, Prabhakaran said the DMDK was starting afresh. “Delhi parties are trying to come to Tamil Nadu, we will take our party up to the global level,” he said.

In reply, AIADMK leader and minister for fisheries D Jayakumar said both Sudeesh and Prabhakaran were immature. “If DMDK’s expectation is huge, what can we do?... They shouldn’t forget that they owe their existence to the AIADMK,” Jayakumar told reporters.

Soon after the DMDK quit the alliance, channels of communication opened between the party and Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM). V Ponraj, who was scientific advisor to former president A P J Abdul Kalam and is now MNM’s vice-president, invited DMDK to join their alliance. At a press conference in Chennai, Haasan said, “I was told Ponraj is speaking. Let’s see.”

Haasan added that it was their duty to accommodate whoever wants to join them. On Monday late night, MNM had announced that it would contest 154 seats while allotting 40 each to its alliance partners — All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) led by actor R Sarathkumar and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK). The two parties recently walked out of the AIADMK and DMK alliances, respectively, and have accepted Haasan as their chief ministerial candidate.

Vijayakanth launched DMDK in 2005 positioning himself as an alternative to the DMK and AIADMK. However, he joined hands with late J Jayalalithaa for the 2011 elections. His party won 29 of the 41 seats it contested, becoming the second largest party after the AIADMK, which formed the government.

However, since then, the DMDK has been unable to make a mark in electoral politics. Vijayakanth parted ways with Jayalalithaa and for the 2016 assembly polls, he joined hands with the Left and smaller parties but drew a blank. In 2019, it joined the National Democratic Alliance for the Lok Sabha polls but its vote share dropped to 2.1%. In recent years, Vijayakanth has been inactive due to his ailing health with his wife and party treasurer Premalatha emerging as the party’s face during the ongoing election campaigns.

Meanwhile, the opposition DMK completed its seat-sharing exercise. On Tuesday, it allotted three seats to the Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi. The DMK will be contesting in 174 seats having allotted 60 seats to 11 of its alliance partners, including 25 seats to the Congress.