Congress severs 11-year bond with DMK in Tamil Nadu, extends 'conditional' support to TVK

CHENNAI: The Congress severed its 11-year ties with the DMK and decided to support TVK. AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar announced that Congress would support TVK on the condition that there should be no “communal forces” in the alliance.

Girish Chodankar, in a statement, said Congress supports the people’s mandate. “It is our constitutional duty to respect, uphold and help fulfil the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu. Accordingly, the TNCC and the Congress legislative party have decided to extend full support to TVK to form the govt,” Chodankar said.

The announcement came after TVK sought Congress support to form the govt after falling short of the magic number of 118 by securing 108 seats.

However, the support to TVK comes with the condition that there should be no communal forces in the alliance. “Our support shall be conditional upon TVK keeping out of this alliance any communal force that does not believe in the Indian Constitution,” Chodankar said.

Saying that the days of former CM K Kamaraj, which the Congress has long dreamt of reviving in Tamil Nadu, would return, Chodankar said the alliance was founded on “mutual respect, appropriate share and shared responsibility between the two parties”.

He also said the alliance would continue for the upcoming local body elections, the Lok Sabha polls and the Rajya Sabha elections.

By entering into an alliance with TVK, Congress ended its relationship with the DMK, which began in 2015. The break in the alliance is also expected to have repercussions at the Centre as the DMK and Congress are part of the INDIA bloc.