DMK set to be a major driver of Opposition unity for 2024 LS polls

Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is aiming to win all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one seat in Puducherry in 2024, is trying to take up a major role in next year’s general elections.

If DMK and its allies, who form the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), garner maximum seats in 2024 elections, it will be a major boost for the Opposition at the centre and the ruling front of Tamil Nadu as the front is far ahead of the NDA alliance of AIADMK-BJP in the state.

If DMK and its alliance will not win all the seats from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry still the front will make sure to win maximum seats in the upcoming elections.

Other than Tamil Nadu, the opposition is likely to get a large number of seats from Kerala, where the opposition in all probability will win all the 20 seats. However in Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the possibility of the opposition winning the maximum number of seats is less.

In the 2019 general elections, BJP could win only four seats in Telangana out of the 17 seats and won 27 in Karnataka while losing the 2023 assembly elections. BJP stands a chance to win at least half of the seats. Situation in Andhra Pradesh is different with the ruling YSR Congress party winning 22 of the 25 seats.

YSR Congress party has also not participated in the opposition unity meet in Patna like the BRS party. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has a different agenda and has travelled across the country to represent himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate.

Other than Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the opposition may not get maximum seats from South India making Stalin a major player for the opposition unity.

After the arrest of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Stalin openly said that the DMK cannot be cowed down by using central agencies and that the party was ready for tit-for-tat.

Interestingly, Tamil Nadu police arrested S.J. Suryah, BJP state office-bearer on charges of a fake social media post and later an AIADMK district office bearer of Erode district for another social media post.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK -- the principal opposition party of Tamil Nadu -- is a divided house. One of its stalwarts and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) was expelled from the party by the incumbent General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS).

In 2019 general elections, while DMK won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu, AIADMK won only Theni, Lok Sabha seat. The AIADMK candidate was O.P. Raveendranathan, son of O. Panneerselvam (OPS), showing the hold of OPS in his home town district.

Add to this, the alliance between AIADMK and the BJP is rickety with the BJP State President K. Annamalai time and again coming out against the AIADMK.

The AIADMK and BJP even had a public spat with each other showing that all is not well with the AIADMK- BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu. Given the rift, there are less chances of this alliance winning seats in 2024 general elections in Tamil Nadu.

Given the background, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin is expected to play a major role in the 2024 general elections on the merit of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by DMK which is trying to garner more seats.

Stalin’s father, DMK leader and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Late Muthuvel Karunanidhi, had played a pivotal role in forming the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre in 2004 and the opposition parties are expecting a similar role by M. K. Stalin in the post-electoral scenario of 2024.