Interacting with party workers and media during his maiden visit to Kamarajar Hall in his capacity as the party in charge of Tamil Nadu, Dinesh used the term “alliance government” to refer to the DMK-Congress combine forming government in the state next year.

His choice of vocabulary, “DMK-Congress alliance government” whipped a minor storm in alliance with the media speculating the possibility of the Congress trying to drive a bargain with its regional ally DMK for share in power so early. Wary of the impact his remark had created, TNCC spokesperson A Gopanna released a clarification later in the evening, clarifying his remarks about alliance.

“The Congress party in Tamil Nadu will fight the 2021 Assembly elections with a view to forming a government under the Chief Ministership of DMK president MK Stalin. Our leader Rahul Gandhi had expressed his desire to see Stalin as the CM of Tamil Nadu even during the campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. We also acknowledge with a great sense of gratitude that it was Stalin who first named Rahul Gandhi as the next PM of India before the 2019 LS polls.”

“It was an announcement that inspired the people of Tamil Nadu to vote overwhelmingly in favour of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance that won 39 of the 40 seats in TN and Puducherry. Similarly, the Congress and DMK would go to polls together to realise the dream of Rahul Gandhi in making Stalin the next CM,” the statement added, reiterating the stated position of the Congress party vis-à-vis the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021.

“If any of my statements in Thursday’s press conference in Chennai was ambiguous to be interpreted in any other way, this is my clarification,” he clarified, carefully skipping the issue of alliance or rather coalition.