MADRAS, 5 May 2004 — The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is leading an umbrella alliance of Congress and other regional parties in Tamil Nadu, is seriously considering the option of help the communists and others to forge postelection alliance of smaller parties as an alternative to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and Congress.
The mood in the party is very upbeat as the election process winds down toward the May 10 polling in the state.
Almost all opinion polls have indicated a sweep for the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), which includes besides Congress, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the two communist parties, CPI and CPI(M) and the Indian Union Muslim League. The opinion polls predict 34 or 35 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the DPA.
The electoral arithmetic is in favor of DPA, as the combined vote share of the alliance partners, based on past elections, was about 52 percent and that of the AIADMK-BJP alliance 42 percent. There is nothing to indicate a minimum 6 percentage point shift in the voting that is required for the latter to win.
But what has fired up the DPA constituents, especially the DMK, is the projection of a hung Parliament, and the moves by some of the smaller players at the national level like Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the left parties to forge a postelection alliance of non-BJP and non-Congress parties.
The DMK leadership is now seriously considering the option of throwing its lot with the Mulayam-Left combine.
CPI (M) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet and CPI Secretary A.B. Bardhan have discussed the option with DMK President M. Karunanidhi. Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh has also spoken to Karunanidhi by phone.
“We have not made any commitments. We have told them that the issue could be discussed after the results are out,” Karunanidhi said.
