Alagiri, Raj Thackeray want to cause defeats, not win themselves

Political parties exist to come to power. However, given the nature of Indian politics – where the fight is often for family inheritance – sometimes parties see their primary purpose as defeating a family rival in the short run. In the Lok Sabha elections this year, two major politicians fit this description: Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, and DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s son MK Alagiri. Yesterday (17 March), Alagiri announced that he won’t be floating a new party, but will be fighting to save his father from the clutches of his younger brother MK Stalin, Karunanidhi’s formally-annointed heir apparent. “The DMK is no longer in Karunanidhi’s control. He is now in some crisis situation, and saving him and the party from it should be our first priority,” The Indian Express quotes Alagiri as telling his supporters. This is not dissimilar to what Raj Thackeray said when leaving the Shiv Sena in 2005. He said Bal Thackeray was still his god, but Maharashtra needed him more. [caption id=“attachment_1438695” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Both Alagiri and Thackeray want to cause defeat rather than go for victory[/caption] From Alagiri’s statement, one can surmise that he will covertly try to trip Stalin in southern Tamil Nadu, where he has some political clout. Since Alagiri praised both J Jayalalithaa and Narendra Modi yesterday, one can expect his supporters to stay lukewarm to DMK candidates in southern Tamil Nadu. It remains to be seen whether AIADMK and BJP will gain from this. Alagiri’s goal is clear: if Stalin can be shown to be a loser, he can make a bid for a takeover of the DMK at a later stage once the old man isn’t around. The story’s similar with Raj Thackeray – who would like nothing more than to see his cousin and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lose. This is why he announced some nine days ago that MNS would be fighting some Lok Sabha seats even though he supports Modi’s candidature for PM. Raj said: “We will contest the Lok Sabha elections. I will show my party’s strength during the elections. We will support Narendra Modi for the PM’s post. Modi should become the Prime Minister of the country,” Raj said. The reference to showing “my party’s strength” is code for claiming that the MNS is the party that inherited Bal Thackeray’s mantle. Clearly, this year Raj Thackeray and Alagiri are in the same situation: they are fighting for their inheritance, and the only way they can do it is by denting or defeating the formally anointed heirs of Bal Thackeray and Karunanidhi – Uddhav and Stalin. The downside for them is this: if they fail to do this, Raj and Alagiri will advertise their irrelevance.