To Ask Or Not To Ask: Why Is Congress Pulling Both Ways In Tamil Nadu?
The last few weeks have seen rising tensions between the Congress and its senior alliance partner, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), over two issues — the number of seats the Congress should contest in the 2026 Assembly elections and its demand for a share in government. For a party that has long accepted a junior-partner status in Tamil Nadu, the sudden assertiveness marks a clear departure from its earlier submissive approach.
Complicating matters were the actions of Praveen Chakravarthy, the Congress’ data analytics head and a known confidant of Rahul Gandhi. In early December, Chakravarthy called on Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay at his residence. The optics were obvious — the meeting took place at a politically sensitive time and was followed not by silence, but escalation. Even after criticism from state Congress leaders, Chakravarthy doubled down by posting on X about Tamil Nadu’s worsening debt position under the DMK government.
That post appeared to be a pointed rebuttal to DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi’s claim that her party had rescued the state from the financial mess left behind by the AIADMK. To many within the DMK, this looked like yet another breach of coalition discipline, and supporters of the ruling party took to social media to express their displeasure.
Officially, however, the Tamil Nadu Congress insists that talks with the DMK are on track and the alliance remains intact. But internally, a growing number of leaders believe it is time to step out of the DMK’s shadow and demand greater relevance. Chakravarthy may well be one of them. And this sentiment is not merely rhetorical — it is already visible in negotiations.
Though the exact figures are not public, the Congress is believed to be pushing for 40–50 Assembly seats, significantly higher than the 25 it contested in 2021.
Parallelly, the Congress has opened a second front — the demand for power sharing. No DMK ally currently holds a ministerial portfolio in the government, and this is not accidental. It has been the unwritten rule of Tamil Nadu politics since 1967, when the DMK first came to power, that while allies can help win elections, governance is a strictly Dravidian family affair. Even in 2006, when the DMK did not command a majority, the then chief minister, M Karunanidhi, did not feel compelled to induct allies into the Cabinet.
Given this longstanding convention, what is emboldening the Congress now? Analysts point to the “Andhra model”, where the Telugu Desam Party — despite commanding a comfortable majority — has accommodated both Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party with respectable Cabinet berths. Congress leaders seem to be asking: why should Tamil Nadu be any different?
Yet, structural explanations alone do not fully answer why tensions have escalated at this particular moment. Why did Chakravarthy reach out to the TVK? After all, Chief Minister M K Stalin and Rahul Gandhi — to whom Chakravarthy is considered close — share a much-advertised warm relationship.
Ahead of a rally in Coimbatore during the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, Gandhi famously bought sweets for Stalin, calling him his “brother”. Later, commenting on Stalin’s cycling video from Chicago, Gandhi asked, “Brother, when are we cycling together in Chennai?” Stalin, while welcoming him to Chennai, responded by recalling that gesture and quipping that a box of sweets was still pending from his side. All of this makes the present friction seem puzzling — unless viewed through a wider political lens.
One school of thought argues that this is part of the Congress’ national strategy after its 2024 revival — a message to allies that as the only party capable of mounting a national-level challenge to the BJP, it deserves more space and leverage.
They point to the firm posture adopted in Bihar during seat-sharing negotiations and the reluctance to promptly acknowledge Tejashwi Yadav as the obvious chief ministerial face of the Mahagathbandhan.
Another line of argument sees the crisis as rooted in local realities. Out of power in Tamil Nadu for decades, the Congress today arguably has more leaders than workers, and many are eager to assert themselves to climb internally. The party’s organisational decline has been remarked upon even by rivals. Former BJP state president K Annamalai once mockingly remarked that journalists outnumbered Congress workers during a rail roko protest over Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament.
The choice of state leadership also seems to have emboldened party leaders. The Tamil Nadu Congress chief, K Selvaperunthagai, who has filed a complaint with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) against Chakravarthy and now insists that all is well with the alliance, was himself among the very first to demand power sharing — even before VCK’s Thol Thirumavalavan and Aadhav Arjuna publicly spoke about it. (Arjuna later joined the TVK.) When leaders send mixed signals, confusion is inevitable.
This internal churn within the Congress coincides with another political reality leaders across parties recognise — the Stalin era is closer to transition than before. The DMK’s heir apparent, Udhayanidhi Stalin, does not command his father’s charisma or political weight, despite aggressive projection. The Congress clearly senses this shift and may believe that this is the right moment to extract concessions.
Even if the alliance were to rupture — an unlikely but not impossible scenario — the Congress has a fallback in the TVK. Unlike in the past, it is not negotiating entirely from weakness. It appears more confident, and Chakravarthy’s actions may well carry the tacit approval of the party high command, if only to test the waters before 2026.
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