Ending weeks of hypothesis and parallel talks throughout the bloc, the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) on Thursday formally joined the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), sealing an alliance that either side described as strategic and pressing.
DMDK basic secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth and celebration treasurer LK Sudheth, within the presence of Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin and Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi, met Chief Minister MK Stalin at Anna Arivalayam and formally welcomed into the DMK the celebration based by actor and politician ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth in 2005 and which had not beforehand aligned with the DMK.
In a put up for X, Stalin welcomed the DMDK and wrote that “the bond of goodwill will proceed to contribute to the progress and prosperity of Tamil Nadu”, and framed the second round Mr. Vijayakanth’s private relationship with former state chief minister M. Karunanidhi, calling him a “pricey buddy” who had “unwavering love” for Kalaignar, as Mr. Karunanidhi is popularly recognized.
Premaratha mentioned the choice mirrored the desires of the celebration leaders, recalling that the alliance negotiations dated again to 2016. “It ought to have occurred when Captain Vijayakanth was alive, but it surely occurred after a 10-year delay. We are going to try to win greater than 200 seats.”
DMK pitch
However behind the symbolism, the alliance was pushed by deadlines – most instantly the Rajya Sabha nomination polls, which shut on March 5. Of the six seats that can be vacant when the time period ends on April 2, the DMK holds 4. Based on folks acquainted with the negotiations, the celebration has advised the celebration that it may safe one seat this cycle if it joins the celebration earlier than the nomination quota. In any other case, DMDK should wait one other two years for its subsequent opening.
Sources mentioned the DMDK frolicked within the ultimate phases of negotiations holding parallel talks with the opposition AIADMK, the Bharatiya Janata Celebration-led NDA, and even holding exploratory talks with actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK). Negotiations soared at one level, with the DMDK itemizing what it claimed it may safe by becoming a member of the NDA: a Rajya Sabha seat and even a Union Cupboard place.
Nonetheless, the DMK counter relied on latest examples from Tamil Nadu politics that the DMDK management discovered alarming, based on folks briefed on the talks. Congress MLA and former state girls’s wing chief Vijayadharani resigned in 2024 and joined the BJP, however as a DMK interlocutor identified, there was no tangible “reward” in a method that will keep political weight. R. Sarathkumar merged his political celebration All India Samathva Makkal Katchi with the Bharatiya Janata Celebration in 2024, however did not safe any deliverables as circulated through the recruitment drive. Even former Bharatiya Janata Celebration chief Ok. Annamalai, who resigned from IPS to affix politics, didn’t find yourself in the important thing put up in Delhi that many in his ecosystem as soon as believed was inevitable.
The argument offered was easy. Political dangers are actual and guarantees are solely significant if they’re adopted. Summarizing the pitch, a senior DMK official described it as a selection between the “romance of chance” and the understanding of a written settlement with seats, bills and a Rajya Sabha ticket tied to a deadline. “Now we have advised them firmly that we’re totally different from the BJP and the AIADMK. We won’t change our promise,” the chief mentioned.
Sources mentioned that for the DMDK, the central supply on the ultimate stage was one Rajya Sabha seat, eight or 9 meeting seats and election bills for every seat. The package deal was designed not merely as electoral cooperation, however as an organizational life help system for a celebration that has spent a decade out of energy. Based on sources, DMK senior minister EV Bell, a detailed ally of Stalin, led the negotiations.
The construction additionally contains forward-looking components. Speaking about municipal elections anticipated by March 2027, DMK interlocutors mentioned the DMDK could negotiate to win smaller however symbolically essential positions as a part of an alliance. A DMDK official who took half within the assembly mentioned that small firms may count on him to function mayor, whereas giant firms may count on him to function deputy mayor. These positions improve native visibility and serve to maintain the celebration throughout parliamentary cycles.
For the DMK, the worth lies much less within the DMDK’s latest electoral efficiency than in what celebration strategists describe as an everlasting holdover: a base of Vijayakanth supporters who proceed to flock to the marketing campaign out of reminiscence, loyalty and cultural attachment, even after repeated defeats. DMK officers additionally mentioned that the celebration sees added worth within the DMDK’s partnership with the Telugu Naidu group. Though the entire inhabitants of the group will not be giant, the DMK calculates that “each seat” in Tamil Nadu has between 1,000 and 5,000 Naidu votes, which it may steer in the direction of the alliance by means of the DMDK hyperlink. Virudhunagar and Coimbatore are thought-about essential pockets.
A senior DMK minister mentioned the DMDK is totally different from many different allies as its cadre base is “distinctive, unorganized and dependable” and its door-to-door and avenue campaigning can nonetheless draw crowds remembering the late “captain”. The minister additionally claimed that Mr. Premaratha provides one thing that the alliance’s conventional companions can not simply present, particularly a single chief who can marketing campaign in all 234 constituencies as a recognizable and energetic face. “Neither the CPI(M) nor the CPI nor the Congress has a Tamil-speaking face like Premalatha,” the minister mentioned, contrasting her state-wide mobility with the constraints of extra system-bound leaders who could not journey constantly.
DMDK’s lifeline
The necessity for DMDK’s revival is rooted in its personal electoral marketing campaign. The celebration’s peak was in 2011, when it joined forces with the AIADMK-led entrance and contested 41 seats and received 29, rising because the second-largest celebration in Parliament. Nonetheless, from 2011 onwards, they did not win a single MLA or parliamentary seat and repeatedly entered into alliances. In 2014, he misplaced all seats with the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, in 2016 he led a 3rd entrance in opposition to the Left events and misplaced once more, in 2019 he returned to the Bharatiya Janata Celebration, in 2021 he aligned with Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) of TTV Dhinakaran, and in 2021 once more with the AIADMK. 2024. Vijayakanth’s dying in 2023 elevated the sentimental worth of the ‘Captain’ model whereas on the similar time making the query of survival much more acute.
Vijayakanth’s story was uncommon within the intersection of movie and politics in Tamil Nadu. He’s the one actor since AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran to show movie fame into lasting political affect, constructing a neighborhood vote financial institution round a job that repeatedly emphasizes integrity and anti-corruption. He struck a powerful chord amongst economically deprived voters in villages, together with Dalits and Different Backward Lessons (OBCs), and remained a cultural determine regardless of his celebration’s declining vote share.
His early election efficiency was astonishing. Within the 2006 meeting polls, the DMDK contested all 234 constituencies, with Vijayakanth successful one seat and the celebration securing 8.4% of the vote share. And within the 2011 Congress, it received 7.9%. Within the 2016 and 2021 parliamentary polls, the DMDK fell to 2.39% and 0.43%, respectively.
Within the later years of Vijayakanth, as his well being deteriorated and his bodily presence waned, Premalatha turned the celebration’s chief speaker and custodian of his legacy. In 2023, she described her management as a “crown of thorns” and repeatedly confused the necessity for written commitments in alliance negotiations — “beginning with the DMDK’s Rajya Sabha seat,” as she put it at one level.
