Too many players to test their strength in 2019 LS polls

So far, only the Congress and the MDMK have committed themselves to the DMK alliance, while CPM, CPI and Thol Thirumavalavan’s VCK had only expressed their commitment to fight the BJP, which is also operating independently. The DMDK led by actor Vijayakanth had been left alone after the 2016 Assembly election debacle and PMK too is ploughing a lonely furrow so far. 

Actor Rajinikanth, who is yet to launch a party, had declared that his party would contest in all the 234 seats in the Assembly elections and had not spelt out its stand in the Parliament polls. Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiyam had not ruled out any alliance but functioning on its own now. 

While the ruling AIADMK had managed to keep its party identity and ‘Two Leaves’ symbol intact till now, the party’s former treasurer TTV Dhinakaran had floated his Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam and his uncle Dhivakaran had launched a party called ‘Amma Ani.’ 

Commenting on the present scenario of too many contestants in the political fray, TNCC chief Su Thirunavukkarasar, a veteran of eleven Parliament poll battles, said, “The crowd gathering for the leaders will not be an index of their vote share. Due to advancement in communication technology, people are watching the public meetings from their homes. Whether it be Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan or Dhinakaran, they should face the elections to know their strength in each district.” 

Among the parties only the DMK has a committed vote bank and the other parties including the AIADMK must prove their electoral strength. Without proving their vote share the new parties including AMMK would find it difficult to negotiate an alliance deal. The vote share of both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in every constituency will be known only after they face at least one election. 

The Cauvery protests have thrown new challengers to the mainstream parties like T Velmurugan’s Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi which is growing in organisational strength and youth support in many parts of the state in the western, southern and northern districts.  

So far, the state had witnessed multi-cornered fight in 1996 and 2014 Parliament elections. In 1996, the PMK and MDMK formed separate alliances resulting in four-cornered battle. The previous Lok Sabha polls in 2014 was a five-cornered fight with AIADMK contesting all the 39 seats in the state, while the DMK was with VCK. Actor Vijayakanth led an alliance comprising the MDMK, BJP and PMK, while the Congress and Left parties fought on their own. 

The number of fronts in the forthcoming Parliament elections may come down if some of the parties joined together. However, the chances of seeing more fronts in action in the next elections appears to be bright as most of the new entrants will like to test the waters on their own.