DMK has hired Prasanth Kishore, but what exactly is his brief?
Its news allover, and even the DMK leader Mr M K Stalin has happily, with a lot of glee communicated through his twitter account, that IPAC, and Prashanth Kishore will steer forward the campaign of the party, in the run up to the elections in the coming year.
That said, given that the party is fairly on a strong footing, and has unparalled organisational strengths, and also given the the ruling ADMK will not be able to perform well, thanks to the absence of co-ordinated leadership of that party, and also anti-incumbency, what puzzled seasoned political observers and even senior leader of the DMK is - what exactly will IPAC and its campaign support achieve, and how much will it catalyze the already poised to win DMK??
A few people we have spoken to, both in the DMK, and across the political spectrum of the state have confided that more than any on the ground difference, what Stalin intends to achieve through this engagement with Prasanth Kishore - is to make use of his across the party political legacy relationships, in the event of a flux after the assembly results.
With Rajinikanth, and his well calibrated moves keeping all the principal parties in the state in tenterhooks, the DMK is keeping its options open for a scenario, where the actor and his to be launched party could play spoiler in a handful of constituencies.
While it is true that the actor might equally harm the vote share of both the DMK and ADMK, the worry is more for the DMK, as the BJP is now going ahead with an aggressive campaign to portray the DMK, and its top brass as rabidly anti-Hindu elements, and any Hindu with self respect ought to vote against the party.
To compound this problem of the DMK, Rajinikanth is being advised by his close friends that in the run up to the elections, he should pro-actively cultivate a nationalist secular image (something which the late Jayalalitha had done, and held forte until her demise). By doing so, Rajinikanth will also, they feel, be able to woo away a chunk of the religious minority votes (mainly Muslims and Christians), who have historically favored, and voted in favor of the DMK.
This scenario, will be something which the DMK dreads as of now, and given the fact that they have always boasted and been successful in getting the votes of the minorities, the Rajini nationalist secular ploy will hamper the DMKs winning in a handful of constituencies where the minorities hold a sway.
Given the fact that many leaders from other parties may be hankering to join Rajinikanth as and when his party is launched, and also that they all might contribute in bits and pieces to the vote bank of Rajini;s party in their respective fiefdoms, it is only a given that the DMK is unduly worried as to what impact it will have on its traditional votebanks.
As far as the ADMK is concerned, while the party and its leadership (Edapapadi Palaniswamy, CM and the Dy CM O Paneerselvam) do not seem to be perturbed by any of Rajinikanths moves - this could probably be for two reasons - one, they will put up their best fight, and see how the results of 2021 pan out, cross the bridge when its comes, and the second reason could be that Rajinikanth will any case, in the aftermath of the elections play the BJPs card and gauntlet, which is anyway going to be only pro ADMK.
Thats the assumption, which could also go wrong, just in case the party decides to call it quits in the alliance with the BJP, and go to the polls, without the Hindutva stigma attached. This also, in effect mean that the minority vote bank of DMK gets a bit hit - splitting between Rajinkanth and ADMK, as they part ways with the BJP.
More than all these, what is more more worrisome for the DMK is not the vote share or results per se. Just in case they do not get a decisive mandate, thanks to Rajini and the ADMK, and a host of other factors that will be propped up strategically and tactically by BJP in the coming days, the possibility of someone like Amit Shah, the architect of the electoral BJP machinery getting to lay hands on the state political scenario is a distinct possibility.
In case DMK puts up a sub par performance, thanks to some extraneous factors, Stalin is not going be able to wield a powerful leadership like his father always did, and the moment it is seen that he is not an electoral winner, many local leaders in his party might be wanting to test waters elsewhere.
It is this fear that makes someone like Prashant Kishore relevant to the game plan of Mr Stalin and the top leadership of DMK. In case of uncertainty, the party would like to keep its options open, and use Prashant's services in building post poll bridges with anyone who matters, be it in TN, or in Delhi.
In a sense, what Murasoli Maran was to the Karunanidhi in the yesteryears, is what Prashant Kishore would be to DMK leader M K Stalin. It will also help him reduce his reliance of party leaders like Kanimozhi, T R Balu, A Raja, and Dayanidhi Maran, who are seen to be first among equals next to the top leadership, and also seen as people with some kind of clout in Delhi's scheme of things. But given Stalins insecurities, it is known that he may not want too much reliance of any of these party leaders, even be it his own sister.
There is no other reason that the DMK leader M K Stalin would want to take in IPAC or Prashant Kishore at a whopping price, which, by common sense, is not going to reap in incremental electoral results.
That said, given that the party is fairly on a strong footing, and has unparalled organisational strengths, and also given the the ruling ADMK will not be able to perform well, thanks to the absence of co-ordinated leadership of that party, and also anti-incumbency, what puzzled seasoned political observers and even senior leader of the DMK is - what exactly will IPAC and its campaign support achieve, and how much will it catalyze the already poised to win DMK??
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| So, what is IPACs brief with the DMK? |
With Rajinikanth, and his well calibrated moves keeping all the principal parties in the state in tenterhooks, the DMK is keeping its options open for a scenario, where the actor and his to be launched party could play spoiler in a handful of constituencies.
While it is true that the actor might equally harm the vote share of both the DMK and ADMK, the worry is more for the DMK, as the BJP is now going ahead with an aggressive campaign to portray the DMK, and its top brass as rabidly anti-Hindu elements, and any Hindu with self respect ought to vote against the party.
To compound this problem of the DMK, Rajinikanth is being advised by his close friends that in the run up to the elections, he should pro-actively cultivate a nationalist secular image (something which the late Jayalalitha had done, and held forte until her demise). By doing so, Rajinikanth will also, they feel, be able to woo away a chunk of the religious minority votes (mainly Muslims and Christians), who have historically favored, and voted in favor of the DMK.
This scenario, will be something which the DMK dreads as of now, and given the fact that they have always boasted and been successful in getting the votes of the minorities, the Rajini nationalist secular ploy will hamper the DMKs winning in a handful of constituencies where the minorities hold a sway.
Given the fact that many leaders from other parties may be hankering to join Rajinikanth as and when his party is launched, and also that they all might contribute in bits and pieces to the vote bank of Rajini;s party in their respective fiefdoms, it is only a given that the DMK is unduly worried as to what impact it will have on its traditional votebanks.
As far as the ADMK is concerned, while the party and its leadership (Edapapadi Palaniswamy, CM and the Dy CM O Paneerselvam) do not seem to be perturbed by any of Rajinikanths moves - this could probably be for two reasons - one, they will put up their best fight, and see how the results of 2021 pan out, cross the bridge when its comes, and the second reason could be that Rajinikanth will any case, in the aftermath of the elections play the BJPs card and gauntlet, which is anyway going to be only pro ADMK.
Thats the assumption, which could also go wrong, just in case the party decides to call it quits in the alliance with the BJP, and go to the polls, without the Hindutva stigma attached. This also, in effect mean that the minority vote bank of DMK gets a bit hit - splitting between Rajinkanth and ADMK, as they part ways with the BJP.
More than all these, what is more more worrisome for the DMK is not the vote share or results per se. Just in case they do not get a decisive mandate, thanks to Rajini and the ADMK, and a host of other factors that will be propped up strategically and tactically by BJP in the coming days, the possibility of someone like Amit Shah, the architect of the electoral BJP machinery getting to lay hands on the state political scenario is a distinct possibility.
In case DMK puts up a sub par performance, thanks to some extraneous factors, Stalin is not going be able to wield a powerful leadership like his father always did, and the moment it is seen that he is not an electoral winner, many local leaders in his party might be wanting to test waters elsewhere.
It is this fear that makes someone like Prashant Kishore relevant to the game plan of Mr Stalin and the top leadership of DMK. In case of uncertainty, the party would like to keep its options open, and use Prashant's services in building post poll bridges with anyone who matters, be it in TN, or in Delhi.
In a sense, what Murasoli Maran was to the Karunanidhi in the yesteryears, is what Prashant Kishore would be to DMK leader M K Stalin. It will also help him reduce his reliance of party leaders like Kanimozhi, T R Balu, A Raja, and Dayanidhi Maran, who are seen to be first among equals next to the top leadership, and also seen as people with some kind of clout in Delhi's scheme of things. But given Stalins insecurities, it is known that he may not want too much reliance of any of these party leaders, even be it his own sister.
There is no other reason that the DMK leader M K Stalin would want to take in IPAC or Prashant Kishore at a whopping price, which, by common sense, is not going to reap in incremental electoral results.
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