Congress desperate for new ally

TIRUCHY: Despite initial assertions and sound bytes about going it alone and proving its strength, the Congress party is now looking for a new ally, which can carry it on their shoulders to prevent another debacle. Dumped by the DMK and ignored by the AIADMK, the party is eagerly hoping for a break in the AIADMK-DMDK relationship, so that they can find a new ally in actor Vijaykanth.As the party started receiving applications to contest the local body polls, senior leaders have realised the perils of another poor performance, close on the heels of an Assembly poll rout. The party is claiming that it is stronger than the MDMK and PMK and often dub them as small parties. Now, the votes secured by them in the ten corporations, municipalities and town panchayats will be closely watched, since both the PMK and MDMK are contesting alone. If the party falls below the MDMK and PMK, in most of the corporations and other urban bodies, it will be a blow to their prestige and bargaining capacity in Parliament elections. If the Congress managed an alliance with the DMDK, it can cover up its weakness, under the support base of Vijaykanth, who formed his party just before the 2006 Assembly elections. However, it is not known whether the DMDK will treat the Congress as an equal partner and share seats accordingly as the DMDK has won 29 MLAs, compared to the Congress which has only a handful, The lone consolation for the Congress is that the Lankan Tamils issue, which was one of the major reasons for its rout in the Assembly polls, will not figure in the local body polls, dominated by issues of development and infrastructure.However, the party lacks organisational strength and coherence, while suffering from dearth of root level workers. The biggest threat for the party is the factional feuds in the party, which is certain to mar its chances in the local body polls. The selection of candidates will itself will be a tough and time-consuming procedure with each faction demanding its share. Arriving at a consensus is a hard task for the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC), which may not be able to contain dissidence and rebel candidates throughout the State.Even if there are no rebel candidates, it is doubtful, if the functionaries of all the factions will sincerely campaign for the party candidate. The Congress has contested in alliance with the DMK or the AIADMK for the last three decades, barring the 1989 Assembly elections and 1998 Lok Sabha elections. In 1989, the party managed to secure about 20 per cent votes, while in 1998, it obtained only 4.78 per cent votes.