Chennai, Feb 11 (IANS) Amid growing debate within the DMK-led alliance over the possibility of a coalition government in Tamil Nadu after the 2026 Assembly elections, Congress MP B. Manickam Tagore has said that the ultimate decision rests with the people of the State.
His remarks come in response to Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin, who recently ruled out the Congress party’s demand for a coalition government if the alliance returns to power in 2026.
Stalin asserted that Tamil Nadu’s political tradition favours a single-party government rather than a coalition arrangement.
Joining issue with the Chief Minister, the Virudhunagar Member of Parliament said in a social media post that it is the electorate who will determine whether Tamil Nadu will have a coalition government or a single-party government.
He emphasised that democratic mandates should guide post-election governance models rather than pre-emptive political declarations.
Tagore also took a candid look at the Congress party’s past decisions, particularly in the aftermath of the 2006 Assembly elections.
Referring to that period, he said the Congress had missed an opportunity to insist on power-sharing with the DMK when it had the leverage to do so.
In the 2006 Assembly elections, the DMK had fallen short of a simple majority, winning 96 seats in the 234-member Assembly.
Despite lacking the numbers to form a majority government on its own, the DMK went on to complete a full five-year term with the outside support of its alliance partners.
The Congress contributed 34 MLAs, while the PMK and the CPI(M) extended support with 18 and nine MLAs respectively.
According to Tagore, the Congress should have used that moment to negotiate a formal power-sharing arrangement with the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
He described the failure to do so as a missed political opportunity for the party in Tamil Nadu.
The comments have added a new dimension to discussions within the DMK-led alliance, even as preparations intensify for the 2026 Assembly polls.
Whether the alliance will revisit the question of coalition governance remains to be seen, but the issue has clearly resurfaced in the State’s political discourse.
–IANS
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