The alliance between the Congress and the DMK has come under severe strain in Tamil Nadu with some of the functionaries of the national party seeking to provoke the DMK leadership through open taunts and making demands for a “power sharing arrangement” as a condition to continuing the electoral ties in next year’s Assembly polls. | X @PTI_News
Chennai: The alliance between the Congress and the DMK has come under severe strain in Tamil Nadu with some of the functionaries of the national party seeking to provoke the DMK leadership through open taunts and making demands for a “power sharing arrangement” as a condition to continuing the electoral ties in next year’s Assembly polls.
Praveen Chakravarty criticizes DMK’s governance, highlighting state’s rising debt
Praveen Chakravarty, a close confidante of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and chairman of the Professionals’ Congress and Data Analytics, on Sunday publicly taunted the DMK Government’s performance over the last four-plus year in Tamil Nadu. Responding to DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi’s contention that DMK had turned a debt-burdened Tamil Nadu into a developed State, Chakravarty, mocked the debt situation.
“TN has the highest outstanding debt of all states. In 2010, UP had more than double the debt of TN
Now, TN has higher debt than UP. TN’s interest burden (%) is 3rd highest after PB & HR. TN’s debt/gdp is still much higher than pre-covid levels. TN’s debt situation is alarming!,” he said in a post on X along with a graph.
Chakravarty had recently met actor-politician Vijay, who heads the fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam notwithstanding that the latter is a bitter critic of the DMK. He has also been endorsing the demand for power sharing.
Past disagreements and candidature veto fuel Chakravarty’s friction with DMK
Chakravarty has an axe to grind with the DMK since the party had privately vetoed his potential candidature from the Mayiladuthurai parliamentary constituency last year since it believed he was instrumental in an audio leak which painted a corrupt picture of the DMK top leadership.
The DMK leadership is known to be upset that Rahul Gandhi was yet to pull up Chakravarty for meeting Vijay when a Congress seat sharing committee had already met DMK leader and Chief Minister M K Stalin to take forward the alliance.
A section of Congress leaders in the State has been demanding that party extract its pound of flesh from the DMK this time – meaning a share in power. AICC leader Girish Chodankar, who heads the seat sharing committee, has also insisted on such an arrangement.
TN Congress chief signals party’s intention for a share in state governance
At the same time, on Sunday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvaperunthagai, who is considered close to the DMK leadership, also tweeted saying the party’s intention was to secure a share in power in the State.
DMK leaders, privately, indicated the party will not succumb to such pressure tactics. “In 2021 we offered the Congress 25 seats and a Rajya Sabha berth. Any negotiations for next year’s polls must begin with these numbers and also keeping in mind the Congress has hardly grown in Tamil Nadu,” a senior DMK leader said.
“Our leader has stood by the Congress when most regional parties dumped it. Stalin backed Rahul Gandhi for Prime Ministership in 2019 when no ally was willing to take such a risk. We expect the Congress to take decisions with this aspect in mind,” another DMK leader said.
