Tamil Nadu’s DMK leader and MP Kanimozhi had visited Telugu Desam Party’s Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh, who is on indefinite hunger strike for the past seven days at Kadapa seeking steel plant. The visit assumed significance as the DMK was never part of the TDP for all these years. The DMK finds itself comfortable with the Congress or stays alone and unlike Chandrababu Naidu, the DMK was not an active player at the national politics.
Ahead of the next round of elections, the DMK moved close to support TDP, while Chandrababu Naidu is sailing with non-BJP and non-Congress regional parties. Kanimozhi, daughter of DMK chief Karunanidhi and sister of its working president Stalin, played key role in cementing non-BJP alliance at the national level by extending support to the TDP. Her speech at Kadapa too was hard hitting at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As of now, DMK is part of the Congress and its move towards the TDP is thus seen as an initiative by Rahul Gandhi himself to help the TDP’s efforts in building an anti-Modi platform. Rahul, who is scheming his way to become the Prime Minister after the next election has a greater task of defeating Narendra Modi. In such a case, Rahul would require the support of regional parties like TDP from south to balance the coalition to keep BJP away from occupying the PMO for the second consecutive term.
If this is what is to be believed in the new political polarisation, Kanimozhi had communicated to the TDP on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, as both the TDP and the Congress leaders are not comfortable with open alliance between them in Andhra Pradesh. This secret understanding between the two parties worked well in scheming against the BJP in Karnataka. Though both Rahul and Naidu shared the dais in Bengaluru in the full public view, they are not ready to do the same in Andhra Pradesh at this point of time fearing a tilt in the vote base for both the parties.
If DMK’s Kanimozhi had to be seen as a messenger of Rahul Gandhi to the TDP, the message is clear that Chandrababu Naidu had agreed to back the Congress to keep Narendra Modi out of power after the next election. Will this really work for the Congress and TDP in their fight against Modi, has to be seen in the elections.
