Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi has taken the biggest risk in his 60-year-old political career by deciding to field only 129 party candidates in the May 8 polls to the 234 member Tamil Nadu assembly, indicating that he was not averse to a coalition government.
Knowing pretty well that polls are going to be a "life or death struggle", as the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance has to combat with a formidable AIADMK-MDMK-DPI combine, Karunanidhi generously offered 105 seats to allies Congress, PMK, CPI-M, CPI and Indian Union Muslim League.
Though the DMK had been initially maintaining that there was no question of a coalition government in the state, the seat sharing exercise pointed towards DMK's preparedness for such an eventuality, a novel experiment in the state.
With MDMK quitting the alliance, Karunanidhi had to be liberal in preserving the unity of DPA, which sweeped the 2004 Lok Sabha polls by winning all 39 seats in the state.
By giving more seats to allies, he indirectly proved that the MDMK had left the alliance not because of any differences on the seat allocation but for "something else".
If the DMK has to cross the magic figure of 117 in the 234 member house, it should have a success rate of 91 per cent. Whether it is possible, is a big question mark doing rounds in the political circles in Tamil Nadu.
Karunanidhi had been speaking of contesting not less than 130 seats to win majority on his own, but he climbed down from that position though he had an opportunity to contest more seats, particularly after the MDMK's exit.
DMK, if it wanted, could have taken the 22 seats kept reserved for the MDMK.
Instead, the party shared those seats with its allies, changing the originally accepted plan.
Even before the seat sharing talks began, Karunanidhi had told his allies to make "some sacrifices" to keep the DPA's unity intact.
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He had then said that the DMK, as the leader of the alliance, would also make some sacrifices.
Karunanidhi kept his words, much against the wishes of his partymen who are keeping their fingers crossed. But the leader said "sacrifices would always be rewarded".
Though DMK was late to start its seat sharing talks as compared to AIADMK, which inked its first poll deal with DPI in February itself, it had concluded the exercise in a record time of five days starting from March 7, when it agreed to give 10 seats to CPI.
AIADMK, in its seat sharing exercise allotted 35 seats to MDMK on March 4, but was still holding negotiations with some minor groups.
However, CPI, after knowing that CPI-M had been allotted 13 seats, started nursing a grouse. CPI sources said that the party should be given at least two more seats.
When the CPI leaders met Karunanidhi on Thursday last, he expressed his inablity to allot more seats. If it had to be done, the DMK had to further reduce its quota.
Karunanidhi also told them that he had to accommodate some minor parties like Makkal Tamil Desam of former AIADMK minister S Kannappan, All India Moovendar Munnetra Kazhagam of Dr Sethuraman, Purathi Bharatam, a Dalit party and a group of Forward Bloc, who had been with him for the last four years.
As a damage control exercise, CPI leadership has deputed national secretary D Raja to pacify the partymen.
Meanwhile, achieving a success rate of over 90 per cent is not new to Tamil Nadu. In the last assembly elections, the AIADMK-led alliance made a landslide to oust the DMK government by winning 130 of the 141 seats, registering a 92 per cent success rate.
Similarly, in the last Lok Sabha polls, all constituents of DPA registered 100 per cent success rate.
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The DMK had tasted success in the past also. In the 1996 assembly polls, riding on the crest of anti-AIADMK wave, it won 172 of the 183 seats it contested, achieving as 95 per cent sucess rate, the best in the state.
In 1971, it had won 184 of the 203 seats against a grand alliance floated by late K Kamaraj and late C Rajagopalachari.
In the 2001 assembly polls, DMK and its present allies Congress, PMK, CPI-M and the CPI had polled 48.95 per cent, with the DMK alone polling 30.92 per cent.
A combined Congress and the then Tamil Manila Congress had polled 9.21 per cent, while the PMK, CPI-M and the CPI had 5.55 per cent, 1.68 per cent and 1.59 per cent respectively.
MDMK got 4.65 per cent wile the DPI got 3.08 per cent then.
The influence of the party floated by Tamil actor Vijaykant, who had been drawing a huge crowd across the state, was to be tasted at the hustings.
He may eat into both the combinations, if he struck to his decision of going it alone.
However, the BJP, which had never been a deciding factor in the political scene of the state, had been trying to woo him. AIADMK had also opened the channels with him with an initial offer of nine seats. But Vijaykant has apparently rejected the offer.
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