00:00And I'm going to go straight to Madurai, where Congress MP Manikam Tagore joins me live.
00:06Mr. Tagore, you have said that it's time to discuss sharing of power, not just seats.
00:11With your party strategist, Praveen Chakrabarti, noting that Tamil Nadu, Congress,
00:18Carder want more seats, power and power while flagging DMK debt issues.
00:23Are you coordinating a unified high command push for cabinet births or deputy chief minister post the elections?
00:33Or, you know, despite your another colleague, Jyoti Mani,
00:37warning that such feuds risk putting the party on the path of destruction.
00:45There are two issues into it.
00:47One is that which I expressed today is about a survey done by the Loyola College students,
00:55those organizations which have been through the Loyola College.
00:59And they have come out with a number where the India Alliance,
01:03if as of now when it is put together, will be able to score around 30 percentage of votes.
01:10And the NDA will be having a difficulty to form a government.
01:15And the Tamil Nadu chief minister will have as individual popularity.
01:20The chief minister will be number one and the Mr. Yadapati Pallisamy will be number three.
01:25Before I had written that story that there is no single party is going to form a government.
01:32It is going to be a coalition, which is going to be a strong coalition,
01:35which is going to form a government.
01:36Therefore, this is the right time that we need to speak about the power-sharing arrangements also,
01:45because we need to understand Congress party in Tamil Nadu.
01:4958 years has been out of power, but we have helped many people win their election.
01:55Then we have been, Congress party has steadily losing the ground,
02:00the cadres, because we were not in positions and power.
02:04And we are not an NGO organization.
02:06We are a political party.
02:08We should, whichever guarantees Congress party wants to give,
02:11whatever promises we are making to the people of Tamil Nadu,
02:15when we are in the government only, we will be able to execute it.
02:18That's the idea I had been mentioning.
02:22And I am convinced that the party workers want that thing.
02:26It is not from Delhi.
02:28It is from the ground up.
02:29We are, whichever place, when we are going to meet the Congress workers,
02:33Congress workers say that how many years we will be out of power
02:37when the model of power-sharing is worked out nationally,
02:42in the state levels also, in different models.
02:44Okay, fine enough.
02:45That's a valid question that you have said.
02:47And then you are saying that it's bottoms up.
02:49It's not coming from the high command.
02:51Mr. Tigor, you also argue that no party wins alone in Tamil Nadu
02:56and that Congress must share power as before.
03:00What's the minimum?
03:01Like specific ministries?
03:03Like how many cabinet birth?
03:05Or are you of the opinion that there should be some kind of an understanding
03:10that should be reached clearly between the DMK and the Congress?
03:15This big brother attitude of the DMK will no longer work.
03:18No, we need to understand that the DMK-Congress alliance,
03:25for example, before DMK was with Vashfai's government in 2019
03:31and from 2004, the alliance with DMK has been there for around 22 years
03:36except one election.
03:382014 was the only election.
03:40We were not together.
03:41DMK and Congress were not together.
03:43But we had run successful elections in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2019, 21, 24.
03:53Therefore, we were not able to have successful elections in 2011, 2016.
03:59This is the two elections which just completely messed up.
04:03All of the elections we were together
04:04and we were able to have a coordinated effort in the ground level.
04:08The question here is that there is a process in these negotiations part
04:13and we had been, so in 2006 to 2011,
04:17DMK was a minority government.
04:19We supported from the outside.
04:20But they were part of the government in the national level.
04:23Therefore, these Congress workers and leaders in the ground level
04:30feel that this and the Congress party's alliance with DMK
04:36must be strengthened.
04:38Congress leadership has appointed a negotiating committee
04:41under the leadership of the in charge, Mr. Girish Chotankar
04:43and the PCC president, Selvapar Rathagetji
04:47and the CLP leader, Rajesh Kumar.
04:50They had met the Honorable Chief Minister on December 3rd
04:52and we are waiting.
04:53Today is December, January 5th.
04:56We are waiting for the progress to be made from DMK part.
05:00We are very clear that the India Alliance there,
05:02we want the India Alliance to move forward
05:06and we are an ideological partners.
05:09We stand in Delhi, in the ground, together
05:12to fight against the communal forces
05:14against their entry into Tamil Nadu.
05:19The question is that how the fight is together,
05:22we are together,
05:23but there is a demand in the ground
05:26that the promises what we make,
05:30we are not able to fulfill
05:31as only electoral partners.
05:34We need to be in the governing partnership also
05:36because when we make promises,
05:39we are not able to fulfill it.
05:41When we give guarantees,
05:42we are not able to fulfill that thing.
05:44When we are not in the government,
05:45that's the only question of which we have been...
05:45But Mr. Tegu,
05:45then how do you look at your own party MP,
05:48Jyoti Mani,
05:49who is saying that internal division
05:50and selfish interests
05:52are heading Tamil Nadu Congress to ruin?
05:54Well, that story,
05:57my in-charge, Mr. Girish Chowtankar has cleared it.
06:00That was not on the policy matters she was speaking.
06:04She was speaking about one district issue.
06:06One district president of Dindikal West,
06:09she had issues with that district president.
06:12Therefore, that district president,
06:14there is a disciplinary action being pinned in.
06:16Therefore, that's a wrong perception
06:20which has been built in the media
06:21that she was being insulted by the district president
06:24and those people around him.
06:26Therefore, they were not able to help her in...
06:29They were blocking the BLA-2 appointments also.
06:32Therefore, she was wounded by that kind of behavior.
06:35So, she has tweeted on that ground.
06:37It has nothing to do with these things.
06:39Our in-charge,
06:39the ACC in-charge,
06:40Girish has had a clear conversation with the MP
06:44and the PCG president also.
06:46That's been brushed out.
06:47There is no confusion in the Congress Party assets.
06:49We are in the India alliance.
06:52We want the India alliance to be strengthened.
06:54We want the DMT alliance to be strengthened.
06:56We want the chief minister to have a second term.
06:59We are completely with him.
07:00They are delivered on the promises which they made it.
07:03So, we are with them in this process.
07:06But our promises,
07:08what we are making,
07:09we are not able to implement.
07:11That's the pain we are having in the ground.
07:13Okay.
07:13There is the challenger that you are facing.
07:15I mean, those images of him are on your screens as well.
07:19TVK chief, actor Vijay.
07:22Are you not worried
07:23that here is someone waiting to occupy...
07:28He has clearly occupied the opposition space
07:31and has gained a lot of popularity on the ground as well.
07:36That's a good thing.
07:37In my view,
07:39the TVK's formation
07:42and the TVK's bold steps
07:45to enter into politics.
07:48Mr. Vijay's entry into politics
07:50has given signal
07:52and it has increased the participation
07:55of the youngsters in a bigger way
07:57in a political movement.
07:59We have to understand that
08:00Tamil Nadu because of BJP's politics
08:02controlling the ADMK
08:04completely after Ms. Jalanta's demise
08:06has controlled the ADMK
08:08and the ADMK is being shrinking.
08:10And as BJP's model in other states
08:13like Janata Adal's rule states,
08:15Janata parties and others
08:16in the northern part of India
08:17as you well know
08:18because you are a senior journalist,
08:20BJP always observe the party
08:23whomever they are alliance with that.
08:25That process,
08:26they are doing it with the ADMK.
08:28Suddenly, Vijay's entry into
08:30the political arena
08:32and forming a party
08:33has given new hope
08:34to those voters of ADMK
08:36to shift towards the TVK.
08:38That's a good thing for us
08:39because the secular politics
08:41of Tamil Nadu
08:42will be kept as secular.
08:44We want that to be there.
08:46We don't want...
08:47We are with the India alliance,
08:48we are with the DMK,
08:49but the TVK's entrance
08:51has stopped the BJP
08:52from expanding in Tamil Nadu.
08:53Okay, that's an interesting reading there.
08:56Manikam Tagore,
08:56always a pleasure speaking to you.
08:58Thank you so much for joining us.
08:59Thank you so much.
09:00Thank you so much.
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