Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday publicly endorsed M.K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and head of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), as the most suitable figure to lead and consolidate the INDIA opposition alliance ahead of future national electoral contests.
Mani Shankar Aiyar said that a united opposition requires “strong leadership and strategic coordination” across regional and national parties, and that Stalin’s recent political conduct made him well-placed to play that role.
“If the INDIA bloc is consolidated, I think the best man to consolidate it is M.K. Stalin,” Mani Shankar Aiyar told ANI.
In his remarks, Mani Shankar Aiyar underscored Stalin’s perceived willingness to support a broader coalition framework without standing in the way of the leadership ambitions of Rahul Gandhi, the leading Congress figure. “He has the great virtue that he won’t stand in the way of Rahul Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister,” Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
Drawing a historical comparison, Mani Shankar Aiyar invoked the example of K. Kamaraj, a former Congress president who declined the prime ministership in the early post-independence era to prioritise party unity over personal ambition. He suggested Stalin could play a similar “kingmaker” role in steering the opposition coalition.
“When Kamaraj was asked to become the PM of India in succession to Jawaharlal Nehru, he had one sentence to say to everybody who asked him – “No English, No Hindi. How?” So, MK Stalin is in same position. Rahul Gandhi can become the PM of India, provided there is somebody to spend all his time consolidating the INDIA bloc,” Aiyar said.
– Magizh
