It’s advantage DMK in local body elections

If the confusion continues in the ruling party post-July, the situation will again be favourable for the main Opposition in the subsequent elections too. The district secretaries’ meeting convened on Friday by DMK working president and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin, for reviewing the political situation and a few other issues, reportedly discussed the prospects of the alliance in the civic polls and the strategem for it.

According to DMK sources, some functionaries wanted to contest the local body elections alone. However, a majority of them has been non-committal and left the decision to the party top brass. Party insiders say that the top brass is somewhat inclined to have an alliance for the civic polls. This could have been the outcome of the overwhelming response from various non-political sections to the April 25 strike call in support of farmers.

“The April 25 strike was a people supported bandh and various sectors suspended their routine for a day, in response to DMK’s call. It’s clear that people support the DMK and the like-minded parties that participated in the strike on that day,” explains Vetrivendan, a long-time member of the DMK from Madurai. 

Ganesh Thiagarajan, a political analyst, says, “The AIADMK is facing different challenges almost every day from fringe groups. The latest one is the Nanjil Sampath-TTV group, excluding the ministers. In such a situation, the vote bank of the AIADMK will also get fractionalised. With the DMK marching ahead under the leadership of Stalin with its vote bank intact, it could be a cakewalk for the party in the civic polls. Moreover, the present rivalry in the AIADMK may even take a toll on the party in the civic polls itself, as it is quite likely that supporters in each camp might even file nominations against each other for the same seat. Further, the delay in merger talks and the rumblings within the AIADMK camp can even pull down the government any time,” he points out. 

Against this backdrop, the voluntary support for the April 25 strike can be deemed as an approval from the people for the DMK and its alliance with the Left parties and the VCK, he remarks.