The Congress is not unduly worried about whether or not the DMK members remain in the Union Cabinet in the wake of the recent developments in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
The DMK has half-a-dozen ministers in the Cabinet. While Mr Dayanidhi Maran and Mr M.K. Alagiri are the Cabinet-rank ministers, Mr S.S. Palanimanickam, Mr D. Napoleon, Dr S. Jagathrakshan and Mr S. Gandhiselvan are ministers of state.
The process of the DMK’s marginalisation in the UPA began when it failed to get one more Cabinet-rank ministry in place of A. Raja, who quit following the spectrum scam. The Congress got the telecom ministry in the Cabinet reshuffle undertaken after that.
Later, the DMK had succumbed to the pressure tactics by the Congress in the seat-sharing negotiations for the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The current mood in the Congress heading the UPA, is not to keep the ally in good humour irrespective of whether or not it wins the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The thinking is the DMK has no option but remain with the Congress. It cannot go back to the BJP-led NDA in the wake of spectrum scams and the Left too cannot re-ally with the Dravadian party after the latter’s ideological flip-flop at the Centre.
The Congress on Monday dismissed any threat to the UPA coalition in the wake of DMK MP Kanimozhi being made an accused in the 2G case suggesting the government had “no role, no control” over CBI investigation.
“The government is fully stable. Since 2004 when UPA came to power, there have been illusions about its instability and some people have reached the evening of their lives under such an illusion,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.
Replying to a volley of questions on the issue, Mr Tewari suggested the government has neither any role nor any control over the developments taking place in the investigations taking place in 2G spectrum scam.
“Do you think in the Supreme Court-monitored investigation, CBI would have done anything but as per facts of the matter”?
“The draft chargesheet is also being scrutinised by the Supreme Court and the (appointment of the) public prosecutor is also being scrutinised by the court. With such stringent monitoring, could CBI have deviated even an iota from the fact?” Mr Tewari asked.