Stalin, Alagiri meet, DMK and Cong bury the hatchet

Chennai: Differences between the DMK and the Congress in Tamil Nadu that threatened to break the alliance blew over on Saturday with the state Congress chief K.S. Alagiri calling on DMK president M.K. Stalin at Anna Arivalayam, and both the leaders issuing statements that said the relationship between the two parties was strong, and that they stand united in their fight against communal forces.

While Mr Alagiri jokingly told journalists after the meeting that the two leaders had met to discuss Darbar, the latest Rajinikant-starrer, he later said, “We are aware of the threat to the nation from fascist forces and their pliant rulers in the state. The Congress is steadfast in its resolve to be with the DMK in defeating them. The alliance will continue for the 2021 Assembly elections.”  

A post-meeting statement by Mr Stalin urged functionaries of both the parties to refrain from expressing their views on the alliance in public.

By continuing to air their misgivings over minor incidents, both the parties will only provide grist to the “packs of jackals” out to find a hole in the DMK-led alliance and some media outlets to chew the cud, Mr Stalin said, adding that he did not want that to happen.

“There have been a few unwanted happenings in the alliance after the rural civic polls, though our alliance has received the people’s mandate. Both the sides should not have discussed these things in the public. Let’s put a full stop and move ahead. Cunning and hungry foxes are waiting for an opportunity to disband the alliance. I urge functionaries of both the parties to refrain from discussing these issues in the public,” he said.

Mr Alagiri made it very clear that the two leaders have decided that no one other than the DMK president and the TNCC chief will express their views on the alliance when he was asked if he had requested action against those — like DMK treasurer Durai Murugan — for speaking against the Congress.

Recalling the genesis of the controversy, Mr Stalin said it was triggered by Mr Alagiri’s statement over the allocation of less seats to the Congress in the panchayat elections. The issue could have been settled amicably, through discussions, he added.

“We just said what we felt like saying,” retorted Mr Alagiri when asked if the curtains have been pulled down on the rift between the two parties.

Mr Stalin appreciated Mr Alagiri’s “constructive” statement that the Congress would support and stand by the DMK’s firm position against communal and fascist forces as well as their handmaidens.

To a question if he had met Mr Stalin at the behest of the Congress high command, Mr Alagiri said that the party leadership had given him complete freedom and had not issued any orders or advisories.

The DMK had stayed away from the conclave of Opposition parties convened by Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to discuss the strategy against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Though DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu was in the national capital, he did not turn up for the event.