More parties to hop on DMK-TMC bandwagon

The CPM then took the line that the DMK was veering towards the Congress and was even prepared for talks on an electoral alliance with the Narasimha Rao-led Congress until a few weeks before the elections. The Marxists plumped for the breakaway DMK group, the Marumalarchi DMK led by V Gopalsamy, saying that the latter was consistently against the Congress. The Janata Dal, a key constituent of the NF, also formed part of this front, which was ranged up against the DMK. Thus, the NF allies were divided in Tamil Nadu. It was only after the elections that the national NF-LF leaders of the CPM, Janata Dal, on one hand, and that of the CPI and DMK, on the other, got together in an effort to form government, after having opposed each other in the elections in Tamil Nadu.

This time, the posturing of the UF allies, the DMK, TMC, CPI, CPM and Janata Dal, would present a more logical picture of a single, solid front, pitted against the AIADMK(J)-led combine. The CPM had fallen out with the MDMK after the 1996 polls, prior to the local body elections in the later part of that year, on the ground that Gopalsamy’s stand on the Cauvery and Sri Lanka Tamils issues could not be supported. The Janata Dal, too, has been steadfastly toeing the DMK line after the 1996 elections. If the CPM and the Janata Dal have to be included in the alliance, the DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and the TMC president G K Moopanar would have a harrowing time in bringing about a seat-sharing formula.

The CPI, which had been allotted 2 Lok Sabha seats in 1996, would naturally expect to field candidates for the same constituencies of Sivakasi and Nagapattinam which it won. The CPM would like to have at least an equal number of seats. The JD would exert pressure on Karunanidhi through its national leaders.