Cong Rakes Up Power Sharing In TN Again
Chennai: Just as the Congress’s desire for power sharing in Tamil Nadu appeared to be over with the party reconciling itself to the idea of continuing in the DMK-led alliance and possibly bargaining for just a few more seats, Manickam Tagore, the Congress whip in the Lok Sabha, raised the issue by stating that coalition politics was real, quoting the results of an IPDS (Indian Political Democratic Strategies) survey.
Apart from highlighting the possibility of the INDIA coalition winning the 2026 Assembly elections in the state as the poll result indicates, he said in a tweet that ‘it is time to share not just seat share but also power share’ by creating a chart from the survey which gave his party 3.10 per cent votes.
The Virudhunagar MP also said that no one can win the election without an alliance as each party has its own vote share; This was just a reiteration of the stand of Congress leaders who have been making subtle demands for sharing power for some time now.
While the AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar had kicked things off some time ago by saying that the Congress was growing phenomenally in the state and hence would seek a share in power, Chodankar, who also had the support of several other leaders, a view that apparently pushed the fate of the alliance to the brink, corrected it on Saturday, saying the alliance was on the right track.
However, Tagore’s tweet could reignite the debate, which could potentially break even the alliance and also leave DMK cadres and workers, whose contribution was important during the elections, disappointed about this tie-up.
DMK organizing secretary RS Bharati told the media at the party headquarters that there was no talk of power-sharing when the alliance between the two parties, which has stood the test of time by winning several elections in a row, took a hit and if it had to be discussed now, it could only be done at the level of senior Congress functionaries like DMK president MK Stalin and Rahul Gandhi.
It is learned that DMK told the Congress that there is no room for power sharing in the State and only seat sharing can be negotiated. Additionally, the party had stated that it would not be able to meet the demand expressed by some leaders regarding seat allocation as more parties like DMDK and PMK’s S Ramadoss faction are likely to join the alliance and will have to be allocated constituencies.
While the idea of power-sharing is not part of the political tradition of the State where major parties never give ministerial berths to minor allies, it was Vijay who mooted the proposal at the launch of his political party, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam.
