We bore the blame for your mistakes, Congress MP Manickam Tagore tells DMK

The strains deepened in the DMK-Congress relationship on Sunday, with Congress leaders sharpening their attack on the ruling party.

At a meeting of the District Congress Committee in Madurai, B.  Manickam Tagore, who won in a close election in 2024 from the  Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency, said the Congress had to “carry the blame and answer for your [the DMK’s] mistakes”. He was indirectly referring to the corruption allegations against the DMK that resulted in the decimation of the United Progressive Alliance in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Mr. Tagore criticised the DMK for not taking action against its Madurai North MLA, G. Thalapathi, who had questioned the Congress’s strength in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Tagore has been demanding that the Madurai North constituency be allotted to the Congress this time. He got a resolution passed at the meeting, seeking a share in power and more seats for the Congress.

Last week, DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ruled out power-sharing with allies.

“When the DMK district secretary [Mr. Thalapathi] asks disparagingly whether the Congress has enough workers to handle the booths, it becomes a problem. We carried the blame and answered for your mistakes,” Mr. Tagore said.

“Our leader Rahul Gandhi calls Chief Minister M.K. Stalin his ‘elder brother’. He expects the same respect to be given to the ordinary Congress workers. His [Mr. Thalapathi’s] speech pained us. No action was taken against him, and he did not express regret either. So everyone has started talking in the same manner. I won’t keep quiet. If you don’t give us respect, we will speak in the same style,” he added.

To make matters worse, All India Professionals’ Congress president  Praveen Chakravarthy, another critic of the DMK, cast doubts on the “winnability” of the DMK-led alliance just because the government credited ₹5,000 into the bank accounts of 1.31 crore women.

He said, “The Magalir Urimai Thittam is an excellent welfare scheme. Its implementation is commendable. However, it would be superstitious to believe that it alone will ensure victory in the election. In the past three years, of the nine major State governments that announced such schemes, only four won and five lost.”

Reacting to these developments, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai said the AICC leadership had made it clear to the State leaders that nobody should make comments against the DMK or the alliance in Tamil Nadu. “Congress president Mallikarjun  Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and K.C. Venugopal made that clear to everyone. If such comments are made despite the warning, we will have to see what action the AICC takes against them,” he said.

A member of the Congress seat-sharing committee, who said he was not aware of Mr. Tagore’s remarks, pointed out that as long as Mr. Tagore refrained from speaking against the alliance with the DMK, there shouldn’t be any issue.

Another senior leader said the District Congress Committee does not have the power to pass any resolution on the alliance. “Are they more powerful than the AICC?” he asked.