With allies drifting away, AIADMK mum on seat-sharing for civic polls

The PMK, which allied with the AIADMK for the bypolls in 2019 and general assembly polls in 2021, has now questioned the alliance dharma, in a clear indication that the AIADMK is no longer a sought-after party. 

With TMMK led by John Pandian also walking out of the alliance, BJP and the Tamil Maanila Congress led by GK Vasan are the only few parties left for AIADMK to tie up for the upcoming municipal and mayor elections.

However, a section of AIADMK workers is happy that the PMK has walked out of the front. “It is a fact that BJP and PMK let down the AIADMK alliance. 

The strike rate for DMK was higher in constituencies where the PMK and the BJP contested,” said MGR Mandram functionary Poonga Nagar Selvam.

For the past 40 years, Tamil Nadu had witnessed a bipolar election between the DMK and AIADMK. Though the AIADMK vote bank has dwindled, there is every possibility for the party to bounce back provided it breaks away from the BJP alliance, said Dawood Khan, a sympathiser of Dravidian parties. 

The DMK and AIADMK are like the two sides of a coin in TN politics and one cannot exist without the other side, he said.

PMK had always been a party that migrates from one alliance to another and this does not mean that the AIADMK had lost its value among the political parties, opined political commentator S Agneeswaran.

“Leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami had retaliated to the PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss asking him to explain his alliance conspiracy theory. In my view, this is good for the AIADMK which is gearing up for the upcoming urban local body polls,” he said.

TMC, another loyal ally for the AIADMK, which drew a blank in 2021 assembly polls, and five other smaller parties which contested under the AIADMK symbol are yet to confirm their alliance.

At a time when the state election commission had begun the review meetings for the conduct of polls, the opposition AIADMK is silent on the issue and is yet to begin the alliance talks with other parties.no.6 alliance