Indian Union Muslim League ends nearly six-decade-long alliance with DMK, backs TVK

The Indian Union Muslim League on Saturday said it had ended its nearly six-decade-long alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, The Hindu reported.

The party passed a resolution to this effect at a meeting of its general council on Friday.

The Indian Union Muslim League, which won two seats in last month’s Tamil Nadu Assembly election, extended support to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam for forming the government. However, it had contested the election as part of the alliance led by the DMK.

Kader Mohideen, the chief of the Indian Union Muslim League, said that the party had hoped that the “Dravidian Model government” would return to power and DMK chief MK Stalin would become the chief minister for a second term.

“We worked for that outcome during the election,” Mohideen said, according to The Hindu. “But God’s will appears to have been otherwise. The [TVK’s] ‘whistle’ symbol resonated across the state, people rallied behind Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, and the party won 108 seats.”

The IUML chief said that if his party had not extended support to the TVK, it could have led to Governor’s Rule, which would have “indirectly amounted to BJP rule”.

While the Vijay-led TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, it had fallen short of the majority mark by 10 seats. Apart...

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