CHENNAI: Amidst the recent criticism from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over Congress' alliance with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu, Congress MP Jothimani on Wednesday justified the move, stressing that in politics, "forming" and "breaking" alliances is "natural."
In a detailed post on X, the Congress MP recalled a previous instance from 2014, when the DMK had "expelled" Congress from the alliance, following which it was forced to contest alone. She stated that Congress didn't criticise the DMK at that time and considered it a "political move." "In politics, alliances forming and breaking is only natural. Even the DMK, just a week before announcing the 2014 parliamentary elections, expelled the Congress party from a long-standing alliance. We were suddenly pushed into contesting alone. For that, we didn't harshly criticise the DMK. We understood it as a political stance," Jothimani said.
"The Congress party has been journeying in alliance with the DMK for a long time. When you're in an alliance, there are bound to be ups and downs. I myself have clashed publicly. Now, keeping in mind the welfare and future of Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee has unanimously decided to join an alliance with the TVK," Jothimani wrote. Highlighting the importance of parting ways from the alliance with "mutual respect", the Karur MP noted there should not be any harsh words used by both Congress and DMK following the development.
She further stressed that it is not the "political decency nor the culture" of Congress to criticise a party it had been in alliance with before, and then criticise it with "extreme ferocity", at a time when DMK supremo MK Stalin has himself lost the election. "Now, the Congress party is compelled to take a political stance. Therefore, it's best for us to part ways from the alliance with mutual respect. We must avoid using harsh words on both sides.
Especially in the current situation where the DMK has faced defeat in the elections--and that too with the honorable Chief Minister, elder brother Thiru. M.K. Stalin himself having lost--it's neither political decency nor the culture of the Congress party to have been in the alliance until yesterday and then criticize it with extreme ferocity," said Jothimani.
The Karur MP also highlighted Congress' previous three debacles in Parliamentary elections, stressing its "different reasons" and noted that if any party takes a stance of not allying with the grand old party due to this reason, then it cannot lead the INDIA bloc at the national level.