Amid row over Kejriwal visit, DMK mouthpiece Murasoli hails Rahul Gandhi

CHENNAI:  Amid news of frayed DMK-Congress ties, DMK mouthpiece Murasoli on Tuesday carried an article that seemed to be reaffirming the Dravidian major’s support to the Grand Old Party. It said that Rahul Gandhi should lead the cross-country Bharat Jodo Yatra, aimed at mustering support for unseating the BJP at the Centre, and that DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin backed him in this endeavour.

The latest canker on the bilateral relationship came after the DMK invited the AAP for a government function in the State. A state functionary of the Congress told TNIE last week that AAP wrested power from the Congress in Delhi and Punjab and that AAP was the reason Congress could not form a government in Goa. “Moreover, we have to fight both the BJP and the AAP in the next year’s Assembly election in Gujarat.” He demanded to know whether the DMK would maintain an alliance if the Congress rubbed shoulders similarly with the AIADMK.

Tuesday’s article on Murasoli, however, recalled how the DMK supported former prime minister, the late Indira Gandhi, when she was cornered by senior Congress leaders of the time during the presidential election in the 1970s and ensured the victory of the Gandhi-backed VV Giri. He succeeded, the article said, only because of the DMK, which had a vote value of 35,488. 

What’s more, Stalin, it said, was exhorting Rahul Gandhi with the words, “Come Rahul Gandhi and succeed in your revolutionary journey to bring good governance to the country,” similar to how former chief minister the late M Karunanidhi asked Indira Gandhi decades ago, “Come daughter of Nehru and pave way for a stable government.”

The article also hinted that the DMK had no plan to project any other political leader than Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 General Election.  On the need for such an article, DMK propaganda secretary T Sabapathy Mohan told TNIE, “We are committed to our stand to form a non-BJP government at the Centre under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.”

On the DMK inviting the AAP, he said the party leadership maintained cordial relationship with all non-BJP chief ministers, including Arvind Kejriwal. “It will help strengthen the non-BJP alliance ... The DMK intends to wrest the Union government from the saffron party and form a non-BJP government with the support of all non-BJP parties,” he said.