Even before the Congress and the DMK could begin formal seat talks for the TN Assembly polls, the relationship between the two ran into rough weather. According to sources, the Congress is deeply upset with the DMK for the deal with the PMK before finalising the seat-sharing formula with it.
Sources also informed that the panel constituted by the Congress to negotiate with the DMK has been directed to secure an agreement on power-sharing, should the alliance return to power. The panel has been further directed not to insist on 80 seats but settle for anything around 70.
On the question of admitting the PMK and deciding on the number of seats it would contest, it was expected by congress leaders the DMK would finalise an arrangement with their party first and then enter into negotiations with other prospective parties in the group. The DMK too had such an idea till recently as it is more dependent on the Congress than vice-versa.
It became all the more irritating for the Congress as DMK chief and chief minister M. Karunanidhi and PMK founder-president S. Ramadoss began playing the cat-and-mouse game over the issue of alliance. When the DMK supremo announced in Delhi in January that the PMK was part of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), Dr Ramadoss rebutted it. The next few days saw the CM declaring that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi didn’t want the PMK to be a part of the DMK-led group as it had ditched the alliance in the 2009 LS polls, and Dr Ramadoss expressing a desire to return to the DMK fold.
In addition to the drama played out in Chennai, Dr Ramadoss’ son Anbumani Ramadoss was camping in Delhi and knocking at the doors of Mrs Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. Even before the Congress could express its opinion on the issue, the DMK leader announced that PMK would be contesting 31 seats for the Assembly, besides getting a Rajya Sabha nomination whenever a vacancy arose. Sources in the Congress also feel that Dr Karunanidhi wanted to divert the attention of the public from the issue of CBI raids conducted the previous night at Kalaignar TV’s office and hence the hurriedly-clinched deal with the PMK.
But one moot point that has not gone unnoticed is the PMK was taken into the DPA when deputy chief minister M.K. Stalin was away in London. He was opposed to the PMK’s entry as it had to be allotted seats only in northern TN which is his forte and that could spell trouble to him within the party, in the post-Karunanidhi scenario.