Actor-politician Vijay’s party, TVK, has come out in support of Congress MP Manickam Tagore’s demand for power-sharing from ally DMK in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, saying that he was not demanding any contract or commission but only respect in return.
Tagore’s call to the DMK for reciprocal respect has created flutters within the ruling alliance, with the Tamil Nadu Congress now seeking action against its own MP for what it described as putting their ties under ‘strain.’
However, Tagore has found support from unlikely quarters, with TVK’s Nirmal Kumar saying that it was Congress which saved DMK in the 2000s. He even went on to predict that it would be DMK candidates that will defeat Congress in the upcoming polls.
“The DMK regime would have ended then, but it was saved by the Congress. Had the Congress not formed an alliance in 2006, the DMK would have ended. Sonia Gandhi was the one who nurtured the DMK and brought it up to this level,” Kumar said.
“In 2006, it was a minority government. Kalaignar promised power-sharing and formed the government, but Sonia Gandhi forgave it. However, Ramadoss kept talking about it and said that Karunanidhi had betrayed them. Had Sonia Gandhi wanted, she could have ended the government then. I’m saying this again — if not for the Congress, the DMK cannot come to power at any time,” he added.
Saying that the Congress gave “political life” to the DMK, Kumar claimed that the Grand Old Party has been kept in the ruling alliance in the state only for its “10 to 12% vote share and minority votes.”
Kumar further alleged that in several local body elections where the Congress was allotted Chairman and Vice-Chairman posts, the DMK fielded its own candidates and defeated them.
He also claimed that, going by recent trends, DMK leaders could similarly work together to defeat Congress MLA candidates even if the two parties remain in alliance.
The simmering discontent between the ruling allies came out in the open when Tagore responded to DMK chief MK Stalin’s statement that power-sharing was not possible, saying that Congress workers are “humans, not robots.”
Reminding the DMK that it would not have been in power without Congress’s help, Tagore said, “The Congress does not forget the help extended by the DMK in the past…we may have fewer supporters, but without our support you (DMK) may not be in power today.”
