POLITICS

Strange bedfellows

Breaking ranks with old friends, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam drifts towards the Bharatiya Janata Party in a desperate bid to isolate the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
in Chennai

THE ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu has virtually decided to align itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha elections. Their other allies may include the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (TRC). This realignment of political parties in Tamil Nadu is broadly in consonance with the pattern of voting on the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on April 17.

The DMK breaking ranks with its allies - the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Janata Dal and the Indian National League (INL) - and voting for the confidence motion was a surprise. The MDMK, the PMK and the TRC, which were allies of the BJP, also voted in favour of the motion.

After the fall of the Government, the DMK was the first off the mark in looking for new allies. At the DMK administrative council meeting on May 1 in Chennai, party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said that the general council and the executive committee of the party would take a final decision on a "new front" after the Election Commission announced the election dates. However, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that the DMK would go with the BJP, the MDMK, the PMK and the TRC. This much was evident from the tenor of the administrative council's prolix resolution, which denounced the CPI(M) in particular, and attacked the CPI, the TMC and the Congress(I) to a lesser degree. Karunanidhi bristled at the CPI(M)'s allegation that the DMK's stand in supporting the Vajpayee Government was "opportunistic". He claimed that the CPI(M) had also changed its position on various issues and on various occasions.

Events moved rapidly after Karunanidhi strongly hinted on May 1 that the DMK was keen on an electoral alliance with the BJP, the PMK, the MDMK and the TRC.

After the TRC executive committee met on May 2, its founder and Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthi told reporters that his party would continue to be a part of the BJP-led alliance and that if the DMK became a part in it, the TRC would wholeheartedly welcome it. He predicted that Jayalalitha would be isolated in Tamil Nadu, and added sarcastically that "nationally, she may have a few friends like Mayawati and Sonia Gandhi". Ramamuthi saw a Vajpayee wave in the making.

K. PICHUMANI
M. Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

On May 3, PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss met Karunanidhi and finalised their alliance. Ramamurthi was present at the meeting. Informed sources said that the Union Minister played an important role in bringing them together.

Karunanidhi called it a "good beginning" and a "good sign". A few hours after this meeting, BJP leader and Union Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam met Karunanidhi.

IT will be interesting to watch the proceedings involving the DMK and the BJP, given the fact that the DMK's rationalist Dravidian politics is antagonistic in spirit to the BJP's Hindutva philosophy. Similarly, any joint campaigning by DMK and MDMK cadres will be an interesting spectacle. For Vaiko broke away from the DMK to found the MDMK. There was also no love lost between the DMK on the one side and the PMK and the TRC on the other.

It looks as if there will be a three-way contest in the State for the 39 Lok Sabha seats. The other two possible fronts will consist of respectively: the Congress(I) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and the TMC, the CPI(M), the CPI, the Janata Dal and the INL. The Congress(I), which did not win any seat in the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections, will now be sought by the AIADMK and the TMC. Given its own weak presence in the State, the Congress(I) will prefer to rely on the AIADMK's support base and cadre strength to try and stay afloat.

However, the road to this partnership may not be smooth because the AIADMK is bound to drive a hard bargain in the matter of the sharing of seats. The Congress(I), however, is keeping its options open. It may well give a wide berth to the AIADMK if the Supreme Court upholds the appointment of three Special Judges to try the 46 corruption cases against AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Jayalalitha, her former ministerial colleagues, and some bureaucrats, and also quashes the Centre's notification of February 5 transferring the cases from special judges to sessions judges.

In such a situation, the Congress(I) will do business with the TMC led by G.K. Moopanar, who broke away from the Congress(I) in 1996 to float the TMC. Informed TMC sources said that Moopanar had told Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi that the AIADMK, which has been seen to have resorted to "blackmailing techniques", would be a millstone around her neck. TMC sources said that Sonia Gandhi had not taken a decision yet. Moopanar hopes that the Congress(I) would align itself with the TMC in order to form a broad-based front comprising the DMK, the CPI(M), the CPI and the Janata Dal. But the DMK jumped the gun and indicated its preference for the BJP. Political observers are nonplussed by this as even in late April, a top DMK leader had expressed the DMK's keenness to align itself with the Congress(I).

The clearest enunciation of its position has come from the TMC, which has said that it will oppose in equal measure the communalism of the BJP and the corruption of the AIADMK. Moopanar said on April 28: "We are clear in our policy of not going with the BJP or the AIADMK... if the DMK has an understanding with the BJP, then I cannot be there." He added: "Any party's chances will be affected if they join hands with the AIADMK." In effect, Moopanar ruled out any tie-up with the Congress(I) if the AIADMK was a part of the deal.

The Left parties reacted with indignation to the DMK's decision. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said: "It is unfortunate. They (DMK) all along professed to fight communalism. This is a sudden volte-face." CPI national secretary D. Raja accused the DMK of "taking a stand against secular, democratic forces..." However, in Moopanar's assessment, Karunanidhi was leaving his options open, as he had said the final decision would be taken at a joint meeting of the DMK general council and the executive committee. "Karunanidhi has not pronounced the final word on his party's stand regarding an electoral alliance," Moopanar said.

Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav was more bitter. He said: "We sacrificed the United Front Government for the DMK, which has now ditched us."

The DMK administrative council resolution, which made out a case for the formation of a new front, explained why the party decided to back the confidence motion. According to the resolution, the DMK's view had been that its allies (namely the TMC, the CPI(M) and the CPI) and the DMK should jointly take a stand on the confidence motion. According to the resolution, the DMK made it clear that no party should fall into the trap set by Jayalalitha because her motive in toppling the Government was to extricate herself from the corruption cases and to get the DMK Government dismissed. So the DMK decided not to back Jayalalitha's move to dislodge the BJP-led Government.

The resolution said: "(Our) allies thought over it and gave us an assurance as if they will accept our standpoint. However, since they took a decision on their own without even informing us, the DMK decided to support the confidence motion."

The DMK resolution targeted the CPI(M) and claimed that party general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet accepted DMK leader Murasoli Maran's explanation that the DMK could not be seen in the company of the AIADMK. The resolution said the DMK received reliable information that Sonia Gandhi had agreed to Jayalalitha's demands for the repeal of cases against her and the dismissal of the DMK Government. According to the resolution, after the fall of the Government, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat ruled out any electoral understanding with the DMK even before the DMK had taken any decision on its allies. "This is akin to the horse throwing off its rider and digging his grave too," the DMK resolution said.

S. MAHINSHA
At a public meeting in Chennai on April 28, Tamil Maanila Congress leader G.K. Moopanar, G.A. Vadivelu of the Janata Dal, N. Sankaraiah of the CPI(M), Abdul Latheef of the Indian National League, and R. Nallakannu of the CPI.

Besides, a public meeting organised by the TMC, the CPI(M), the CPI, the Janata Dal and the INL in Chennai on April 28, "supposedly"aimed to persuade the DMK back into their fold, instead heaped abuse on the DMK, the resolution said. It assured the minorities that "whatever be the changes in the political situation, the DMK will perform its historic task of safeguarding their welfare."

Karunanidhi rejected the allegation that the DMK was being opportunistic. He said that at the 16th CPI(M) congress in Calcutta in October 1998, the BJP and the Congress(I) were described as being of the same hue, and that one was in no way better than the other. However, this time the CPI(M) sought to make Sonia Gandhi the Prime Minister," he said.

According to CPI(M) Polit Bureau member R. Umanath, Karunanidhi was "factually wrong" when he alleged that the CPI(M) congress had viewed both the Congress(I) and the BJP as being of the same hue. He said: "The party congress made it clear that our main task is to fight the BJP."

DMK sources said that the party preferred to go with the BJP because the BJP was prepared to form a coalition government with the DMK as a partner at the Centre if it returned to power. Besides, the BJP would not insist on a lion's share of seats to contest from Tamil Nadu. This would enable the DMK, the BJP, the PMK and the MDMK to contest more seats than they did in February 1998. Conversely, the Congress(I) was averse to forming a coalition government and wanted a big share of seats to contest.

As in the case of the Congress(I), the AIADMK is keeping its options open. If an alliance with the Congress(I) does not fructify, it is prepared for a tie-up with a third front. Jayalalitha said that there were "definite chances" of her party forging an alliance with the third front. But there is a rub: the TMC will then back out of the third front.