Setback for BJP-AIADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu as DMDK walks out ahead of Assembly polls

In a setback to the ruling alliance, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) led by actor Vijayakanth on Tuesday walked out of the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance after failing to reach an agreement on the number of seats to contest.

The announcement by DMDK was not surprising as the AIADMK was playing hardball with its junior partner, which was expecting to be “treated on par” with another constituent of the alliance, PMK.

DMDK wanted at least 23 Assembly seats in the April 6 election, while the AIADMK was not willing to part with more than 13 constituencies.

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“The DMDK held three rounds of talks with AIADMK on seat-sharing. Since there was a difference between the demand and the offer, the district secretaries meeting of the DMDK which met on Tuesday unanimously decided to walk out of the AIADMK alliance,” Vijayakanth announced in a statement.

The party is likely to face the elections alone, though Kamal Hassan's Makkal Needhi Maiam extended an open invitation to join its alliance. There was also speculation about DMDK joining the alliance led by AMMK of T T V Dhinakaran, nephew of V K Sasikala.

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After the statement, DMDK leader L K Sudhish, and Vijayakanth's son Vijay Prabhakar, launched a scathing attack on the AIADMK for “ill-treating” the party by offering very less number of seats. Sudhish also blamed AIADMK deputy coordinator K P Munusamy as one of the reasons for the breakdown of the talks between the two parties, accusing him of favouring PMK.

DMDK and PMK, which have been part of the same alliances in 2014 and 2019, do not see eye-to-eye.

“All district secretaries reflected the views and sentiments of the cadre. The AIADMK did not give the number of seats that we demanded, so we are walking out of the alliance. Today is Deepavali for all our DMDK cadres,” Sudhish told reporters.

Both AIADMK and BJP termed the development as “unfortunate”, while the Dravidian party took objection to DMDK going “overboard” in its criticism against the outfit.

The ruling front is facing the election against a resurgent DMK, which is entering the field with the same alliance that registered a resounding victory in the 2019 elections.

Once projected as an alternative to the DMK and AIADMK and launched with much fanfare in 2005 when stalwarts M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa were in active politics, DMDK’s rise was meteoric and so was its fall as its vote share shrunk to a mere 2.19 per cent in 2019 from an impressive 10.3 per cent in 2009.

With a notable 8.38 percentage in its debut elections in 2006 when Tamil Nadu voted for a new Assembly, the party did remarkably well three years later during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections by securing 10.3 per cent votes. However, the percentage came down to 7.88 per cent in the 2011 Tamil Nadu Assembly when the DMDK aligned for the first time since its inception with the AIADMK to fight the elections.

Since 2011, the party’s downfall began, and its vote share has been witnessing a slide every election. While the percentage in 2014 Lok Sabha polls fell to 5.19 per cent, it went further down to 2.39 per cent in the Assembly elections held two years later.

An alliance with the AIADMK also could not help the party increase its vote share as the DMDK secured just 2.19 per cent of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.