Will allies help EPS bypass DMK strongholds in Delta?

TIRUCHY: The Delta region’s political climate is not as easy for the AIADMK, as the region has been proving time again it’s support for the DMK and the Left. This has led the EPS-led party to brainstorm on a way out.

One option the party is looking at is to allocate allies more seats to the Delta, in a way to minimise damage for the party.

As the DMK principal secretary and Tiruchy strong man, KN Nehru has been working vigorously in the Delta, overseeing the nine districts in the region, to repeat the grand results of 2021, or even grab more seats. He is reportedly conducting a series of discussions with the party workers and is asking them to update their everyday activity in terms with the election works. According to a senior DMK functionary from the region, party workers have been initially assigned to check the voters list and even go door-to-door verification and ensure more membership.

‘Annan’ wants a 100 per cent result in the upcoming Assembly polls, as 2021 had witnessed four seats short. He feels degraded in losing one each in Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam. This time, the DMK has earned a good name among the people, and so the result would be accordingly, a senior functionary from Tiruchy said.

With the growing recognition of DMK among the people in the region, the AIADMK’s task is cut out.

Taking these into consideration, AIADMK leadership is in a discussion with the local party leaders. While there is an uncertainty of the alliance as mentioned by the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, who is dreaming of a grand tie-up, the party isn’t willing to wait for everything to finalise, before it could take a call on the Delta decision.

AIADMK insiders from the region attributed that several senior leaders have expressed interest in contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls but Palaniswami is of the opinion to allocate more seats to the allies. “More over, the selection of candidates for the election depends on the arithmetic calculations of EPS. He has some tactical plan which would be understood only when the election approaches,” another AIADMK functionary said.

However, senior journalist N Senthilvel said that there would be several twists from EPS when the polls are round the corner. “We hear that EPS had already selected party candidates to be fielded in the upcoming elections and identified seats which are ‘likely’ to be handed over to alliance partners. We learn that out of 41 seats from the Delta region, EPS has planned to allot around 20 seats to the alliance partners,” Senthilvel said, and added that EPS has also planned to field new faces from the party.