A month ago, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in election-bound Tamil Nadu appeared to be on the rocks. A section of Congress leaders was demanding a share in power, and among those talking to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay was All India Professionals’ Congress and Data Analytics chairperson Praveen Chakravarty. Chief minister M K Stalin stood his ground, and soon Congress signed the seat-sharing agreement without the power-sharing demand. In an interview with Jaya Menon, Praveen Chakravarty says he met Vijay with the consent of his party’s leadership.Excerpts:Q: Did you meet Vijay in your individual capacity or with the consent of Congress leadership? I had a few meetings with Vijay. I did not do these meetings in an individual, private capacity. All that I did in the last six months was with the knowledge, consent and approval of the relevant Congress party leadership. I was ready to be the fall guy at that time.Q: You said before alliance talks concluded that Congress would venture out on its own.Whatever I was doing was in my party’s best interests. I know there were a lot of things said by my party people here about how this was an individual effort or a personal vendetta. I took a lot of bullets. Another AICC functionary was with me during one of the meetings with Vijay.Q: Does this mean that alliance talks were going on with Vijay?I won’t answer that. But were we talking politics? Absolutely. Were we talking about the evolving situation here?Q: Did you prefer an alliance with TVK?My preference was for strengthening Congress. If, instead of 28 seats, we had 60 seats or if we had a share in power, that would mean strengthening the party. We would not have seen some of the fights that are going on now.Q: From a demand of 40 seats, Congress accepted 28. Isn’t that a come down?I don’t know about the demand for 40 seats. Did 28 seats make cadres happy? No. There was a desire for more seats. As a national party, Congress has other compulsions, and hence perhaps AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge agreed to 28 seats. You see what happened once candidates were announced. There is public outcry from TN Congress leaders and workers about who was given a ticket.Q: Is Rahul happy with the 28-seat deal? He didn’t meet Stalin in Puducherry though both were campaigning there recently.Rahul Gandhi had to be in Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and TN. The timing may not have worked.Q: How did Stalin manage to convince Congress leadership to abandon the demand for power sharing?Congress in TN is like Hanuman – it does not know its own strength. We saw an opportunity this time to revive, rebuild and strengthen the party. TN is an important state. Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi and his family, enjoy goodwill here. Why would a national party not work hard to strengthen itself in such a state? It is in quest for power. So why would a Congress party worker or a Congress party leader not aspire to be a minister, to share power? We saw nothing unreasonable in our demand. Congress needs to build. Today, the Congress worker is hapless, listless, demotivated.How many functionaries favoured a TVK alliance at the meeting convened by Rahul and Kharge?I don’t think it was about TVK or DMK. Two-thirds of them favoured a significant increase in the number of seats. Some agreed on the demand for sharing power. A few of them said if this cannot be achieved, we must look at other options.Q: Did they mention TVK?Perhaps that was the ‘other option’.Q: Do you see trouble on the ground between DMK and Congress workers?Congress workers in TN feel they have not been accorded the respect due to them. Today, dissatisfaction among Congress party workers stems from people not getting seats. I don’t see a solution to this problem unless we increase the size of the pie.Q: In an interview with TOI in Jan, TVK leader K A Sengottaiyan said Congress appeared split over alliance with TVK. A majority of TN Congress workers, office-bearers, functionaries and leaders wanted a greater share, and if not, wanted the party to explore other options. A lot of attention is being paid to DMK, but it’s about strengthening Congress. The meeting in Delhi was an opportunity to discuss how to strengthen Congress and explore the political landscape of TN.Q: When you say 70 seats and power sharing, the only other alliance or party that would have offered you that is TVK. There was no way we could have gone to AIADMK or BJP.Q: When asked about your meetings with Vijay, AICC member in charge of TN Girish Chodankar said God knows whether it was some business they discussed or if they were going to have idli or dosa. Was it business, politics or idli dosa?It was politics. There are things we do within the party that we have to keep within the party, and sometimes, someone has to be the fall guy. I was perfectly okay being that fall guy for the party.Q: Did DMK ask for action against you and Manikam Tagore?For what? For trying to strengthen Congress? We put our necks on the line to try to strengthen the party. They want the party to act against us for this? It is laughable.Q: You said dissent was part of a party tradition. Is that Congress view as well?One hundred per cent. Congress is the only true liberal party in the country that respects and provides space for diversity of opinion among its members, as long as it is not detrimental to its larger interests.Q: How would you assess the prospects of DMK-Congress alliance?A year ago, I said TVK had to be taken seriously. A year later, everyone agrees that TVK is a force to reckon with. This will be a hard-fought election for the DMK-Congress alliance as well as for others. TVK is a disruptor, and it will impact the incumbent.
