With the leaking of the JPC draft report on the 2G scam that sought to exonerate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and pin all the blame on former communications minister A. Raja, it appears the Congress has lost the DMK as an alliance partner for the forthcoming general election in 2014.
Tamil Nadu sends 39 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Congress currently has eight LS MPs from the state and the DMK 18.
The DMK walked out of the Union Cabinet recently over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. After the exit of Ms Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress, the DMK was the second-largest UPA constituent. Despite the parting of ways, there was much talk of building a grand alliance comprising the DMK, the Congress and the DMDK of actor Vijayakanth for 2014 to take on Ms Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK.
DMK sources said the party leadership is very upset with the Congress for attempting to put all the blame on the Dravidian party while distancing itself from it. The JPC report appears to have ruined the chances of the two parties coming together for the Lok Sabha polls, sources added.
Congress sources, too, say the JPC report has damaged the prospects of a pre-poll tie-up.
While Ms Jayalalithaa enjoys an advantage for now, the lack of a strong Opposition alliance is bad news for both parties. And, in case of a multi-cornered contest, Ms Jayalalithaa stands to gain. In the light of Ms Jayalalithaa’s strong dislike of the Congress there is no possibility of the two parties coming together. Added to that is the presence of many factions within the state Congress unit, which is bound to affect the party’s performance.