While speculation grew on Sunday that the DMK could pull out its ministers from the Manmohan Singh government in the event of the CBI including Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and wife Dayalu Ammal in the 2G spectrum allocation scam chargesheet, which is due to be filed in court on Monday, senior DMK leaders here insisted no such move was contemplated “as yet”.
“There is no such thinking in the party. We have not had any such discussion. Our stand is that there is only some speculation about some names getting included in the CBI chargesheet. We do not want to respond to speculation at this juncture,” DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan, MP, said cautiously.
Another senior DMK leader admitted there was now “anticipation of certain things in the chargesheet and that might make things difficult for the party.” But still, there was realisation, “particularly among senior leaders”, that the 2G spectrum probe was being driven by the Supreme Court and that the CBI was reporting to the highest court directly. “We cannot blame the Congress, nor can we demonstrate our anger at the Congress or the Central government by pulling out our ministers,” he argued.
The mood within the state Congress is that the DMK is unlikely to pull out its ministers or threaten to destabilise the Manmohan government in any way even if the CBI includes members of the DMK’s first family in the chargesheet. “It would be suicidal for the DMK to break ties with the Congress at this juncture. The party (DMK) cannot face the 2014 Lok Sabha poll without help from a national party and the BJP will not touch it. And if the May 13 vote count goes against the DMK, things could get much worse for that party, even more if we are not around to help,” said an AICC member, requesting anonymity.
After losing high-profile communications minister A. Raja to Tihar Jail in the spectrum case, the DMK now has two Cabinet ministers and four ministers of state in the Union government. The party has 18 members in the Lok Sabha, while its arch-rival, the AIADMK, has nine.
DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi has been upset ever since A. Raja was arrested by the CBI in early February. The fear that the long arm of the law might knock at his doors got worse when the spectrum sleuths landed at the Kalaignar TV office, which is on the second floor of “Anna Arivalayam”, housing the DMK headquarters, to question his wife Dayalu Ammal and daughter Kanimozhi on March 11. Around the same time, the DMK leaders also tasted some “harrowing” time negotiating an Assembly seat-sharing deal with the Congress, which for the first time in many years showed great guts in wrenching a big chunk off its Dravidian ally — 63 seats compared to the 48 the party contested in 2006. The contention of most senior DMK figures here is that by giving 63 seats to the Congress, their party made it that much easier for Ms Jayalalithaa to score big in the Assembly polls as many of Congress constituencies ended up as easy fodder for her.