​The collapse of alliances in Tamil Nadu

There is also a feeling in the AIADMK that the DMDK need not have been given importance, and Vijayakanth should not be nurtured or promoted in any way since he could emerge as a threat to the AIADMK in the 2016 Assembly polls.

During the derailed talks held by the allies, the AIADMK offered too few seats, especially Mayoral posts. The strategy was clearly ousting these allies without actually saying so.

The AIADMK released its list of candidates for the major posts and other urban bodies, leaving very few options to the allies. The DMDK, CPM and CPI were dumped and left out in the cold.

The AIADMK avoided any mention that the allies were being shown the door but left the announcement of the break-up in the ties to the allies themselves. Thus, the DMDK, CPM and CPI, had to fend for themselves and finally had to forge an alliance, reluctantly, for the local body elections.

The rival camp of the DMK-Congress-PMK-VCK front, formed ahead of the Assembly polls in May, too saw a similar upheaval. Several senior leaders of the Congress had been urging the party High Command to break the ties with the DMK ever since the DMK-led alliance received a drubbing in the Assembly elections.

The perception is that the huge anti-DMK wave, in the wake of the 2G scam, particularly reports of massive stockpile of assets and wealth by leading members of the DMK's first two families, had brought down the allies as well. Thus, the PMK fired the first salvo by announcing a parting of ways with the DMK.

Senior Congress leaders like E V K S Elangovan began a virulent anti-DMK campaign. This campaign had the tacit backing of several other Congress leaders in the State.

DMK President M. Karunanidhi, rather than having to swallow a bitter pill, took the course of announcing a break-up of the alliance with the Congress for the local body elections. He did not want to suffer the humiliation of a Congress announcement of ending the alliance with the DMK.

The Congress promptly declared that it would stand on its own legs. It was not just the PMK and the Congress. The other ally, the Dalit-based party of Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi (VCK), too abandoned the DMK and announced its decision to face the electorate on its own. The Kongu Naadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KNMK) has also quit the DMK-led front. The DMK is today seen as a sinking ship by its own allies.

The CPM and CPI were the only two parties to desperately seek allies rather than test their own strength at all political levels of the State. After several efforts to convince the AIADMK to take them on board, the CPM wooed Vijayakanth to seek a tie-up with the DMDK. The call for a strong, third front was a sheer exercise of rhetoric, and it seemed more like a case of sour grapes.

The BJP, which had been already cold-shouldered by almost all the parties, and liked to take pot-shots at the Congress, lacked the courage of the Congress and tied up with the Kongu Naadu Munnetra Kazhagam, in sheer desperation. The KNMK, though allotted seven seats in the DMK-led alliance for the Assembly elections, fared extremely poorly in the western belt though it was considered a KNMK stronghold.

The DMK sees a window of opportunity in the break-up of the AIADMK-led alliance. The DMK camp too has been weakened by the loss of allies like the Congress, PMK, VCK and KNMK.

However, the AIADMK is confident that it will repeat the Assembly-polls showing, especially since it has begun implementation of the freebies scheme including laptops for students, and mixies and grinders to the women folk.