Tamil Maanila Congress, which had played the role of a game changer in many elections since it was formed by GK Moopanar in 1996, finds itself in a no man’s land in Tamil Nadu. The DMK, with which the TMC was likely to forge an alliance for the ensuing local body elections, developed cold feet at the last moment which made party chief GK Vasan to declare that the TMC would contest alone in the hustings.
Vasan had met DMK’s heir apparent MK Stalin last week and had told him about that the TMC would like to work with the principal Opposition party in the upcoming local body election. The TMC president had told the media later that he would be meeting DMK chief M Karunanidhi in the nest two days.
But Vasan’s meeting with Karunanidho remained a non-starter. Early this week, DMK general secretary Ambazhagan exhorted party cadre to work with the alliance partners of the 2016 assembly election for the local body election scheduled for October 7 and 19. “There was no reference to the TMC in that message which made it clear that the DMK was not interested in having any alliance with us. The TMC will go all alone in the election,” said Vasan.
Sources in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee said that the party high command had informed the DMK leadership that it was not favourably disposed towards the TMC. “The party high command accepted the stance of the state unit that the TMC had betrayed the Congress at a crucial juncture and it would not be advisable to forge an alliance with that party at this juncture,” said C D Meyyappan, a senior TNCC leader. But he said that he does not see view this as a major setback for the TMC. “Yes, it is a temporary set back and there are no full stops in politics,” added Meyyappan.