It is a season of problems for Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. And the SC issuing a contempt notice on Monday is probably not the worst of it.
Demanding allies add woes to the party
CHENNAI: It is a season of problems for Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. And the Supreme Court issuing a contempt notice on Monday is probably not the worst of it.
If the DMK is to prefer explanations to apologies, as its organising secretary TKS Elangovan tells DNA, it has a difficult task ahead. For, whether October 1 is called a day of bandh or fast, it was for all to see that normal life was affected on the day. Wriggling out of the situation, however, is not the most difficult task Karunanidhi has ahead.
More than the courts and political opponents, his own allies have been causing uneasiness to the octogenarian leader of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA). The S Ramadoss-led Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which has been opposing key policy decisions of the Karunanidhi government, recently stated openly that it wants to have a “new alliance” in the next assembly elections.
The PMK, with 18 MLAs, is not inevitable for the survival of the DMK government, but Karunanidhi cannot underestimate the electoral utility of the pro-Vanniyar party in the northern states. Moreover, parting of ways with the PMK would embolden the Congress, which as 35 legislators, to demand for a share in the power pie. After all, the DMK has only 96 MLAs in the 234-member Assembly.
In fact, the rumble for such a demand is already audible within the Congress. When Congress leader EVKS Elangovan first made the demand in 2005, Karunanidhi nipped it in the bud. If such a demand comes again from such a senior leader, it may not be as easy a task for the DMK leader, who wants Congress as much as Sonia Gandhi wants him in the event of a snap poll.
“It is unfair that the DMK enjoys the fruits of power in Delhi, when we are not allowed anywhere near it in the state. Our party leadership appears to be realising this,” says a Congress functionary. If the PMK and the Congress queers their pitch together, which is not unlikely, Karunanidhi may just have to concede.
For, elections or not, the DMK leader realises that his immediate strength is the alliance. And, when parties such as actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth’s Desiya Dravida Murpokku Kazhagam emerge as sought-after allies, reconfigurations become easier.
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