A party resolution spoke of “freeing” itself from the UPA but the DMK did not say if and when it might meet the President. The carefully worded resolution in Tamil leaves enough room for an interpretation that the party may be out of the government but not the UPA, and might be pressuring the Congress to accept the alliance in Tamil Nadu on its terms.
“Even after the DMK had agreed to the Congress demand for 60 seats, its fresh demand for 63 seats, and also that it would pick and choose the constituencies, makes it clear that the Congress is not willing to continue in this front,” a resolution passed by a high-powered party committee said this evening.
“The imposition of fresh conditions also made us suspect that the Congress was using the differences over seat-sharing as an excuse to compel the DMK to leave the alliance. Under these circumstances, the DMK has decided that it would like to free itself and not continue in the central government, and extend only issue-based support to the Centre.”
The DMK move comes at a time the CBI, according to a senior officer, is set to summon party boss M. Karunanidhi’s daughter and MP Kanimozhi for questioning over the 2G scandal.
DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu, though, denied the move stemmed from the 2G row. He confirmed the policy of issue-based support, but did not spell out what the party’s stand would be on the Union budget which needs to be passed in the Lok Sabha.
Baalu said “we will reconsider our (withdrawal) decision” if the Congress agreed to 60 seats, and that the party’s six ministers would not resign before they met the Prime Minister, a PTI report said.
“We are all friends. We do not see the end of the road. Though we have withdrawn ministers, our friendship will continue for ever,” he said.
However, a DMK veteran cautioned that even when the party pulled out of the NDA government in 2003, “a similar resolution (of issue-based support) was passed but it eventually led to a parting of ways with the NDA itself”.
Some party sources hinted that even if the DMK had any plans to approach the President and declare withdrawal of support, it would wait for the Congress reaction first. “If they are in a conciliatory mood, we will not formally withdraw support. But if they gravitate towards Jayalalithaa, we would have no option,” an MP said.
If the Congress decides not to patch up with Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu politics could witness a spate of realignments. If the Congress and Jayalalithaa want to revive ties, she may have to sacrifice some of her current allies such as the Left and the MDMK. She has already given 41 seats to the DMDK of actor Vijayakanth.
In case the Congress mulls going it alone, the 1989 precedent of finishing a poor third would weigh on its mind.
State Congress leaders said the DMK move was anticipated the moment Karunanidhi made public the seat woes late last night and said the high-powered committee would take a decision today.
“They could not digest our insistence on power-sharing. Once we increased our seat share above 60, they realised their chances of getting their own majority would dwindle, leading to a post-poll coalition,” an MP said.
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