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| Edited By: Latha Srinivasan |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Dec 29, 2015, 12:07 PM IST
DMK President M Karunanidhi recently said that DMK will look at an alliance going into the Tamil Nadu 2016 Assembly polls. He added that he would invite the Congress party to be part of this alliance.
Karti P Chidambaram, an active member of the All India Congress Committee and son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, speaks exclusively to dna on this possible alliance and the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly Polls.
DMK Chief Karunanidhi has stated he’s looking at an alliance with Congress going into the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls
It’s clearly proven that alliances matter in electoral politics. That is the prudent electoral strategy and I am sure that the Congress would also like to be part of the prudent electoral strategy. Every election clearly proves in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, that alliances matter. You can’t disregard the importance of large alliances and political polis. During elections, one must exercise prudence and do the strategically right thing.
After nine years, the Congress and DMK alliance split for the 2014 general elections
In Tamil Nadu, everybody has had alliances with everybody else. The only parties that have not had alliances with each other are the DMK and AIADMK, and the Congress and the BJP. The Left parties have had alliances with the Congress, DMK and AIADMK. The avowed Dravidian parties that said they will never have any pact with the BJP, have had alliances with them. In Tamil Nadu, alliances form and only closer to the elections. That’s been the trend going back to 2009. I personally think we will only get a clearer picture in March 2016.
How do you think the Congress will fare at the polls?
I think it all depends on the electoral formation. We cannot make any predictions today without knowing who is on which side, how many formations are there and the relative strength of the formation. I think Bihar has clearly shown us that electoral arithmetic works and consistently Tamil Nadu has shown that larger alliances have a clear edge over other formations. If you read the papers today, my information is as good as ours. Everybody is keeping their options open so we need to see how the alliances form.
