Will stalin’s cong gamble work?

In quickly denying that there was a confirmed meeting between DMK president M K Stalin and Telangana Chief Minister and TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao, the Dravidian party has indicated that it may not be keen on a post-poll coalition that leaves out its ally the Congress. KCR has been trying to stitch together a non-BJP, non-Congress front and has been meeting regional party leaders for over a year now. He even met with Stalin last April. However, the DMK signed a poll pact with the Congress ahead of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and while observers have noted that Stalin’s father, the late M Karunanidhi, may have been willing to keep his options open, the son appears to have decided to stick with his ally. 

Stalin does appear to have gambled heavily on the Congress emerging the victor in the Lok Sabha polls, being the first of the regional leaders to pitch for Congress president Rahul Gandhi as prime minister. While other regional leaders such as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee have been reluctant to back Rahul, Stalin has continued to position his Congress ally as the alternative to the “nazist, fascist BJP government” as he has been describing it. 

Of course, insiders also point out that if the DMK got the opportunity to form a new government in the state by winning enough seats in the Assembly bypolls, it would require support from the Congress’ eight MLAs as well as IUML’s one MLA to help it reach a majority. Whether his reluctance to meet KCR, perceived by some as being deployed on behalf of the BJP, stems from ideology or realpolitik, the fact remains that Stalin appears to have made up his mind in this crucial first big test of his leadership.

If his gamble pays off, he will be vindicated and the DMK will once again play a key role in Delhi. However, if it fails, the question will arise if he is the right person to lead the DMK—which has been out of power in the state since 2011 and at the Centre since 2014—in the coming days.