Manmohan Singh’s attempt to cobble together a government of clean, honest, efficient ministers hit a bump on Thursday.
Manmohan Singh’s attempt to cobble together a government of clean, honest, efficient ministers hit a bump on Thursday with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) threatening to merely offer support from outside, and not join the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) administration.
The move came after the Congress refused to induct outgoing ministers TR Baalu and A Raja on grounds of their poor probity and performance, and differences over the number of portfolios that the DMK could get.
After several rounds of hard-nosed bargaining between the parties, DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who is also Tamil Nadu’s chief minister, called prime minister Singh and told him of his party’s decision to stay out of government. The DMK, with 18 MPs, is the third largest constituent of the UPA.
Senior Congress politicians involved in the protracted negotiations said the party finally offered to maintain the status quo with the DMK, ie induct the same number of ministers and give them the same ministries as in the outgoing government, but Karunanidhi refused.
The Congress stance was an improvement on its initial offer of two cabinet berths, but it proved unacceptable. When it became clear that the DMK team planned to fly back to Chennai on Thursday itself, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi intervened, urging Karunanidhi to stay back. He agreed.
The DMK had originally demanded five cabinet berths, in addition to four ministers of state and the right to retain the portfolios it held in the previous government. Observers say the reason for Karunanidhi’s high-pitched strategy is his need to place key family members — elder son MK Azhagiri, daughter Kanimozhi, and nephew Dayanidhi Maran — in important positions at the Centre.
Meanwhile, the Congress was also involved in tough bargaining with two other allies, the Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). After two rounds of negotiations, it had managed to strike a bargain with both, with Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool apparently agreeing to settle for the railway ministry, in addition to five ministers of state, including one each in the health and home ministries.
The Congress offered the status quo to the NCP as well, so that the party would retain the agriculture ministry, and Praful Patel would stay on as minister of state with independent charge of civil aviation.
The Congress party’s standoff with the DMK on the eve of the new government’s swearing-in is almost a replay of events in 2004, when the DMK initially played hardball and threatened to stay out of the government. It eventually joined the government, again after a last-minute intervention by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Late on Thursday, Gandhi called on Singh at his 7 Race Course Road residence to discuss how to resolve the DMK impasse.
This time, too, senior Congress leaders are hopeful of bringing the DMK around. “They [the DMK] are our allies,” said Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi. “We will talk to them and persuade them to join the government.”
According to senior Congress politicians involved in the dialogue with the allies throughout the day, the DMK acted tough from the very beginning, demanding the ministries of shipping, surface transport and highways, information technology and communications, and environment and forests, in addition to railways and health. The Congress tried to argue in favour of proportionate representation, but the DMK, it seems, was adamant.
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