Speculation rife as hour of closes in on DMK
N Sathlya Moorthy
The Observer
April 8, 1999
Title: Speculation rife as hour of closes in on DMK
Author: N Sathlya Moorthy
Publication: The Observer
Date: April 8, 1999
The DMK so far has been sitting relaxed, with the Left and the RLM
boycotting the Jaya-Sonia high tea. But on Wednesday however, the
party is preplexed as to whether they might have to back an anti-BJP
Government, which has the AIADMK in it.
The party supremo and the State Chief Minister, Mr M Karunanidhi, even
received the State BJP General Secretary, Mr L Ganesan, though both
sides claimed that there was 'nothing political' about the meeting.
"In a way, this has made our option much easier," says a DMK source,
adding that the party is still watching the situation as it is
evolving. He said his party would not like to go to the public, until
the AIADMK actually joined the ranks of the Congress and the Left. The
DMK leadership is even more concerned about the high moral stance that
the Left has been taking on issues of political corruption and
dismissal of State Governments under Article 356 of the Constitution.
"The real issue involved in the AIADMK's current row with the BJP is
regarding the corruption cases against Missionaries Jayalalitha and
her erstwhile ministerial colleagues, and her demand for the dismissal
of Mr George Fernandes and the DMK government in the State this
obviously as the one effective solution to get over her personal
predicament." Though the DMK has not taken any formal decision on
supporting the Vajpayee Government, either by voting in favour of it
or by abstaining during the vote of confidence motion, the party
decision will veer round to the issue as to whether the BJP would
expose the 'real issues' behind Ms Jayalalitha's current tiff, as
promised by the party General Secretary, Mr M Venkaiah Naidu.
"We came to power on a public mandate for prosecuting those guilty of
corruption during Ms Jayalalitha's regime and anyone who facilitates
that, either directly or indirectly, should have our vote," said a DMK
source. The DMK leaders also pooh-pooh the Left rationale that their
party would back a Congress Government supported by the AIADMK.
"Their political logic is no more based on ideology, as they would
like us to believe, but on their immediate political concerns in
States like West Bengal, where the BJP is seeking to expand its base.
There is also the larger question of the Left's survival in the long
run, given the advancing age of its leadership at all levels, and the
ever-growing irrelevance of the Communist ideology," he said.
The DMK leaders also seem to feel that they will have a future only if
they get to control power at the national-level, even if remotely.
"Like the rest, our won strategic moves are influenced by our own
political demands and experience," they feel.
If the Left seems to making the decision easier for the six-member DMK
in Lok Sabha, the Congress parent has since made things all the more
difficult for the breakaway TMC in the State to return.
After much deliberations. The TMC had decided on backing a
Congress-led Government from outside, even with the AIADMK in it. But
that was in December, when the Gujarat-Orissa communal clashes were
the issue, and the BJP-led 'Hindutva forces' were in focus.
"It's not that easy this time," concedes a TMC leader. "When
Jayalalitha is the issue, what greater political risk can we take than
to back the AIADMK, directly or indirectly?"
As he concedes again, the "BJP has pushed the Congress and the Left
into the hands of the AIADMK. And when Jayalalitha is the issue, how
can we take a stand different from 1996, when the TMC was formed?"
In a way, the TMC leader says, the Congress high command seems set on
"commiting the same blunder of the Narasimha Rao leadership in 1996.
"Jayalalitha has not changed, the TMC cadre mood has not changed, and
even the Tamil Nadu voters at large seem to hold their 1996 views on
the AIADMK even now. "This being the case, it is going to be very
difficult for our party to take a pro-AIADMK stand if there is a vote
in Parliament, and convince the cadre about it."
In this, he refers to the TMC founder, Mr G K Moopanar's speeches at
the TMC General Council meeting even as the AIADMK was holding its own
historic session elsewhere in the city.
In his inaugural address, Mr Moopanar promised the Congress cadres of
not deserting them or going against their wishes. But in his
valedictory speech in the evening, when the AIADMK mood was known
better, his tone was sharp. "I only hope that the Congress does not
repeat its blunder of 1996," he said, obviously hinting at a total
snapping of ties if the AIADMK was the issue.
Interestingly, three former State Congress chiefs, including a Sonia
loyalist, 'Kumari' Anandan, have launched a severe attack on
Tindivanam K Ramamurthy, the anti-Moopanar incumbent. "The message is
clear," says the TMC leader. "Even the State Congress leaders who had
backed the Narasimha Rao leadership's decision to align with the
AIADMK in the 1996 election seem to have realised their blunder.
Now they are at pains to convince the high command not to repeat the
blunder and reduce the revived hopes of the Congress even further."
However, he clarifies, the TMC may take a decision independent of the
congress when the AIADMK is the issue, but may back a Congress-led, if
not a Congress backed Government. "In that case, we may have to
boycott the no-trust motion and stay our of a Congress Government at
the Centre, with AIADMK in it."
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