Rivals hoped alliance will break, tried to lure allies: Stalin

Chennai/Thanjavur: DMK's political opponents were hoping for the ruling party's alliance to break, but their dreams have been shattered, chief minister M K Stalin has said. The rivals even tried to entice DMK's allies through offers, he alleged."Our political opponents, who lacked confidence in their strength, were eagerly waiting for our alliance to break. They were dreaming that our partners would leave us. Some even tried to break the alliance by making offers to our allies,'' Stalin said in a letter to DMK cadres referring to the impasse in DMK–Congress seat sharing talks. Contrary to the expectations of the rivals, DMK and its allies continued the talks in a democratic manner with the spirit of cooperation, he said. The talks were held with the twin objective of not giving space to communal politics in TN and not compromising on state's rights, Stalin said. As a result, the alliance continued and got stronger too by accommodating more parties that wished to join us, he said.Stalin said he has got the opportunity to travel with ideologically cohesive alliance partners to achieve a common goal. "Time did not offer this opportunity even to our leader M Karunanidhi,'' Stalin said. He noted that Secular Progressive Alliance that was formed for the 2019 parliamentary election has continued through the 2020 rural local body elections, the 2021 assembly election, the 2022 urban local body polls, the 2024 parliamentary election and several by-elections. "Not only has the alliance won these electoral battles, but has also gained additional strength with more parties joining it,'' he said.The upcoming assembly election was when the years of hard work was supposed to bear fruit, Stalin said calling upon cadres to gather in large numbers for the party's state conference in Trichy on Mar 9. Speaking at a family function of school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in Thanjavur earlier in the day, Stalin said he had come there with a sense of satisfaction after completing the seat sharing talks with Congress ‘in a manner that everyone appreciated.'Referring to the hand gesture he made as he entered the car after completing seat sharing talks, Stalin said it was spontaneous and not planned. "Journalists asked if talks were over and I responded it was done. It's finished,'' Stalin said.