On Saturday, the party had decided to withdraw from the UPA over disagreement on sharing of seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
The Congress-DMK alliance is tottering on the brink after the DMK announced that its ministers would quit the Union cabinet on Monday. On Saturday, the party had decided to withdraw from the UPA over disagreement on sharing of seats in the Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
“Our ministers will go to Delhi to submit their resignation tomorrow,” DMK leader and Lok Sabha member, TR Baalu, said on Sunday. The party has six members in the cabinet.
However, the UPA government is unlikely to lose majority if the DMK pulls out as Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has already pledged support to the government. “There is no threat to the UPA government,” the Yadav said on Sunday. His party has 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha. In case the DMK withdraws its 18 MPs, his support would easily make up for the loss.
However, hectic efforts were on to salvage the situation between the DMK and Congress, said sources. Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel are in touch with DMK leaders in Tamil Nadu, they added.
Political analysts believe the DMK’s posturing has more to do with the direction of the 2G spectrum probe than seat-sharing. The party is rattled by the CBI’s recent moves against some important members of the ruling DMK, including party chief M Karunanidhi’s daughter M Kanimozhi.
DMK leader and Union chemical and fertilizers minister MK Alagiri sought to give a touch of finality to the breakdown, saying his party had no expectations of a patch up with the Congress.
“I’m very happy with the recent development,” he said, adding the crisis would not affect the party’s poll prospects in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK wants certain concessions from the UPA government in terms of diverting the investigating agency’s focus from Karunanidhi’s close aides.
At the moment, the Congress does not appear too keen on bowing to the DMK’s threat. Breaking the alliance just a month ahead of the elections would prove counterproductive to the DMK, sources in the party feel. Moreover, concessions on the 2G front would not be politically untenable.
The party has nothing to lose if the DMK pulls out. The Congress may not perform better in Tamil Nadu by going it alone but it will certainly get an opportunity to assess its strength in the state, a party source felt.
The Congress’ crisis managers are in wait and watch mode. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the party’s principal trouble-shooter, spent the day at Churhat in Madhya Pradesh attending the last rites of the departed party leader Arjun Singh.
AICC chief and UPA’s chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to intervene if things took a turn for the worse.
— With inputs from Anil Sharma
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