{"id":26759,"date":"2025-12-23T04:18:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T04:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/23\/astitva-at-stake-congress-weighs-solo-run-in-tamil-nadu-as-dmk-alliance-faces-vijay-roadblock-elections-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T04:18:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T04:18:40","slug":"astitva-at-stake-congress-weighs-solo-run-in-tamil-nadu-as-dmk-alliance-faces-vijay-roadblock-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/23\/astitva-at-stake-congress-weighs-solo-run-in-tamil-nadu-as-dmk-alliance-faces-vijay-roadblock-elections-news\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Astitva&#8217; At Stake: Congress Weighs Solo Run In Tamil Nadu As DMK Alliance Faces Vijay Roadblock | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-9786827\">\n<p><span class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-3759419209\">Last Updated:<\/span><time class=\"jsx-395e0e0beb19cb6e jsx-3759419209\">December 23, 2025, 09:42 IST<\/time><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"asubttl-9786827\" class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960 asubttl-schema\">If the Congress decides to break ranks with the DMK or be demanding, it would be a strategy that is in sync with Gandhi\u2019s initial desire that the party needs to go alone<\/h2>\n<div class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960\">\n<figure class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960 amimg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"While this may not mean that the Congress has made up its mind to end the alliance with DMK yet, given that the Grand Old Party has only 17 seats for now, some think they can afford to take a risk. (PTI)\" title=\"While this may not mean that the Congress has made up its mind to end the alliance with DMK yet, given that the Grand Old Party has only 17 seats for now, some think they can afford to take a risk. (PTI)\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/ibnlive\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1627283897_news18_logo-1200x800.jpg?impolicy=website&amp;width=400&amp;height=225\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960\"\/><\/p>\n<p>While this may not mean that the Congress has made up its mind to end the alliance with DMK yet, given that the Grand Old Party has only 17 seats for now, some think they can afford to take a risk. (PTI)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"0\" class=\"story_para_0\">The seat-sharing talks between DMK and Congress for the Tamil Nadu elections already seem to be losing steam. This is because many in the Grand Old Party are beginning to think like Rahul Gandhi, who feels that the idea of the INDIA bloc will eventually have to end as the allies are eating away the identity of the Congress.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1\" class=\"story_para_1\">In fact, the first indication that Congress was looking at other allies in Tamil Nadu came after the Karur stampede when Gandhi called up actor and TVK chief Vijay. The phone call caused quite a flutter and though initially the Congress party tried to play it down, it ended up upsetting the DMK. <\/p>\n<p id=\"2\" class=\"story_para_2\">While both the BJP and Congress are silently wooing Vijay, the DMK is very clear that actor-turned-neta is their enemy. Though it doesn\u2019t want to attack Vijay too strongly, DMK knows that Vijay\u2019s appeal is to the same vote bank that it is eyeing\u2014women and youth. This is precisely the reason why the Congress in the state is toying with the idea of looking at new allies. This is also the feedback that many in the party cadre have given to the central leadership. <\/p>\n<p id=\"3\" class=\"story_para_3\">A cue has also been given by Tamil Nadu Congress in-charge Girish Chodanker who said: \u201cCongress party will present its own vision for Tamil Nadu, give our guarantees to Tamil voters and implement them by sharing power and being part of the government.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p id=\"4\" class=\"story_para_4\">While this may not mean that the Congress has made up its mind to end the alliance with DMK yet, given that the Grand Old Party has only 17 seats for now, some think they can afford to take a risk.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5\" class=\"story_para_5\">If the Congress decides to break ranks with the DMK or be demanding, it would be a strategy that is in sync with Gandhi\u2019s initial desire that the party needs to go alone.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6\" class=\"story_para_6\">The biggest problem the Congress faces today is that it\u2019s losing its presence in most states where it is in an alliance. Gandhi feels the allies are becoming more powerful and eating into the \u2018astitva\u2019 [identity] of the party\u2014a cycle he wants to end. Will Tamil Nadu be the first ground for this experiment?<\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960 atbtlink fp\"><span>First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rs\">\n<p>December 23, 2025, 09:42 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960 brdcrmb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/\">News<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/\">elections<\/a>  <span class=\"brdout\"> &#8216;Astitva&#8217; At Stake: Congress Weighs Solo Run In Tamil Nadu As DMK Alliance Faces Vijay Roadblock<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"coral-wrap\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f \">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coral-cont\">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coltoptxt\">Disclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/disclaimer\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Terms of Use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/privacy_policy\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"jsx-ee90caf6118df965 jsx-3889786960 rmbtn news18_read_more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/elections\/astitva-at-stake-congress-weighs-solo-run-in-tamil-nadu-as-dmk-alliance-faces-vijay-roadblock-ws-kl-9786827.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Updated:December 23, 2025, 09:42 IST If the Congress decides to break ranks with the DMK or be demanding, it would be a strategy that is in sync with Gandhi\u2019s initial desire that the party needs to go alone While this may not mean that the Congress has made up its mind to end the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}