DMK leaders dismiss idea of alliance with BJP: Stalin will never agree

DMK working president M K Stalin. (PTI File Photo)

While some BJP leaders in Delhi say they are trying out an alternative strategy of warming up to the DMK for a better haul from Tamil Nadu in 2019 General Election if AIADMK fails to emerge from its internal crisis, several top DMK leaders as well as political observers on Monday dismissed the idea of an alliance with the saffron party.

A top party leader, who is a close aide of DMK working president M K Stalin, said such a move at this stage would be suicidal for the DMK. Likening any such coalition to driving a car in reverse gear, the DMK leader said, “Even if Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) may have considered such options, Stalin will never do that — he does not share all sentiments of his father. He also does not do things for immediate, short-term gains.”

Two former ministers in the last DMK government led by Karunanidhi, as well as a party veteran leader, also ridiculed the idea tossed by some BJP leaders. “It shows that BJP leaders are not shrewd or cunning; they are just opportunists. Who is in alliance (with BJP) is insignificant for them, as they are becoming more isolated with 2019 polls drawing closer,” said one of the former ministers.

Calling the BJP a “destroyer of other parties”, the veteran DMK leader said, “They destroyed the ruling party in Tamil Nadu (AIADMK) to a point where they cannot even strike an alliance now. So they (BJP) are hoping for a resurgence through an alliance with DMK.”

Pointing out that Stalin, at a rally against demonetisation in Madurai on November 8, had unleashed a fierce attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies and his party’s politics, the leader said, “Stalin accused the Centre of working against basic rights and freedom of the people, and also clarified that Modi’s visit to Karunanidhi residence (on November 6) was only out of courtesy and respect for the ailing leader.”

P Ramajayam, senior political analyst with the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Trichy, said any alliance between DMK and BJP will help T T V Dinakaran, who is likely to ally with the Congress in such a scenario, as “caste factors and incompetence of AIADMK ruling faction leaders” are to Dinakaran’s advantage to get back in the party hierarchy. “By striking an alliance with BJP, Stalin will also spoil his chances of becoming CM,” he said.