Lok Sabha polls a litmus test for leadership skills of DMK’s new president

Stalin will face the real test only in a few months’ time when the Lok Sabha election heat soars. Having vowed to work with secular forces to defeat the saffron party at the Centre and AIADMK in the State, Stalin would have to be at his diplomatic best while cobbling together an alliance for the general elections.

He would have to strike an effective balance between satisfying his cadre and convincing allies, especially in seat sharing, which had created heartburns in past elections. 

It is no secret that the DMK had regretted apportioning 41 and 63 seats to the Congress in 2016 and 2011 Assembly elections respectively, largely at the insistence of late M Karunanidhi.

Incidentally, for Stalin, the tables have turned now. The DMK has an upper hand against a relatively weak Congress now. 

The changed political scenario might give DMK the leverage to push a hard bargain with the national party, but the real challenge would be in not upsetting the Congress even while convincing the national partner to settle for a less number of seats. Unlike in the past, when a seasoned Karunanidhi was available to either ease tensions or compromise a few seats to clinch the deal, Stalin’s DMK, which, as things stand now, has even hobnobbed with the BJP to keep the Congress guessing.

Significantly, Stalin might have to be equally diplomatic even at the State. He has played his cards right by visiting veteran communist leader N Sankaraiah, whose CPM party is more than willing to ally with the DMK, on day one as party president. A seemingly ‘humble’ Stalin might have to call on a few more leaders and host many others including MDMK’s Vaiko, Thol Thirumavalavan of the VCK and minority party leaders at the Anna Arivalayam, if he were to stitch up a grand alliance in a few months, as his father successfully did in 2004 and 2009 when the DMK stayed in power at the Centre for 10 long years. In doing so, he can join the league of national leaders who will decide the next government at the Centre.