‘Sunshine’ for allies in West TN

Going by the announcement, principal opposition party DMK would take on arch rival AIADMK in less than half (roughly eight) of its seats, including Salem -the home turf of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. A cursory glance at the allocation of seats in the opposition camp suggested that Stalin was extraordinarily generous in conceding some ‘winnable’ or rather DMK-favourable seats like Karur, Arani, Tiruchy and Krishnagiri to Congress.

The same generosity was of help to it in Kongu region, considered an AIADMK stronghold. The Dravidian major has gladly gifted away six seats to allies in western region, Coimbaore to Marxists, Tirupur to CPI, Erode to MDMK, Karur and Krishnagiri to Congress and Namakkal to KNMDK (Rising Sun symbol). Thus, the DMK has not only satisfied allies but also avoided a direct confrontation with the AIADMK in the latter’s bastion.

DMK would be contesting only in four seats in the west, Pollachi, The Nilgiris (reserved), Salem and Dharmapuri on its own. That the DMK failed to thrust Salem and conceded Karur to Congress has prompted critics to question more than commend the seat sharing strategy of the party. It was not uncommon to hear the DMK cadre opine that the leadership should have been more rigid in sharing seats with allies.

Curiously, minimising direct poll conflict with the AIADMK does not make the going easy elsewhere for the DMK which would have to field candidates against AIADMK’s star allies like Anbumani Ramadoss or Sowmya Anbumani of PMK in Dharmapuri, an influential member of the DMDK first family in Kallakurichi, Dr Krishnasamy in Tenkasi (reserved), Tamilisai Soundararajan in Thoothukudi and AC Shanmugham in Vellore.

Unsurprisingly, the DMK has retained most of its strong seats, especially in Chennai region intact. Vanniyar-backed PMK’s presence in the AIADMK camp would be put to test in the northern region, for the DMK would field its own candidates in the northern pockets like Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram, Arakkonam, Vellore, Dharampuri, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi and Salem, where the PMK would be a shot in the arm to a weak AIADMK.