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The Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) appear to have reached an informal understanding not to criticise each other in the run-up to the forthcoming Assembly elections, even though they differ on the issue of the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, who was arrested earlier this week in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.
This comes in the wake of the DMK officially backing Mr. Raja, with party workers hitting the streets across Tamil Nadu, criticising his arrest. Indeed, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has said that support for Mr. Raja will continue unless he is proven guilty. On the other hand, for the Congress, the arrest of Mr. Raja – along with a slew of inquiries into the various scams - is part of a strategy to extricate itself from the charges of corruption levelled against it by the Opposition.
On Friday, Congress sources said, “Mr. Karunanidhi saw no advantage, politically, in letting Raja down — and it is not just because he is the major Dalit leader in the party.” These sources maintained that the two parties would campaign together, and expressed confidence that neither Mr. Raja nor any DMK activist would attack the Congress for the arrest. DMK sources, too, concurred with this view.
Officially, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, “Our party has been maintaining repeatedly that [the arrest of Mr. Raja] will have no impact on the alliance.”
Part of the confidence, Congress and DMK sources said separately, stems from their belief that the 2G spectrum scam will not have much of an impact in rural Tamil Nadu, where they say the DMK's social sector schemes and handouts will dominate the discourse. Of course, both parties need each other, with arithmetic playing a major role in the politics of the State, these sources added.
A major effort is also on to maintain good relations between the two parties at the level of the leaders: during Mr. Karunanidhi's recent visit to Delhi, he called on both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In turn, several senior Congress leaders called on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister – they included Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, G.K. Vasan, S. M. Krishna, Vayalar Ravi, and State Congress chief K.V. Thangkabalu.
On the issue of whether the Pattali Makkal Katchi will be part of the alliance, Ms. Natarajan said the matter was still to be discussed with DMK. “When a decision is taken, it will be announced,” she said. The Congress, which is hoping to get more seats than it did last time, is hoping to keep the PMK out. DMK sources added that it looked unlikely that the PMK would be part of the DMK-Congress alliance.
This comes in the wake of the DMK officially backing Mr. Raja, with party workers hitting the streets across Tamil Nadu, criticising his arrest. Indeed, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has said that support for Mr. Raja will continue unless he is proven guilty. On the other hand, for the Congress, the arrest of Mr. Raja – along with a slew of inquiries into the various scams - is part of a strategy to extricate itself from the charges of corruption levelled against it by the Opposition.
On Friday, Congress sources said, “Mr. Karunanidhi saw no advantage, politically, in letting Raja down — and it is not just because he is the major Dalit leader in the party.” These sources maintained that the two parties would campaign together, and expressed confidence that neither Mr. Raja nor any DMK activist would attack the Congress for the arrest. DMK sources, too, concurred with this view.
Officially, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, “Our party has been maintaining repeatedly that [the arrest of Mr. Raja] will have no impact on the alliance.”
Part of the confidence, Congress and DMK sources said separately, stems from their belief that the 2G spectrum scam will not have much of an impact in rural Tamil Nadu, where they say the DMK's social sector schemes and handouts will dominate the discourse. Of course, both parties need each other, with arithmetic playing a major role in the politics of the State, these sources added.
A major effort is also on to maintain good relations between the two parties at the level of the leaders: during Mr. Karunanidhi's recent visit to Delhi, he called on both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In turn, several senior Congress leaders called on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister – they included Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, G.K. Vasan, S. M. Krishna, Vayalar Ravi, and State Congress chief K.V. Thangkabalu.
On the issue of whether the Pattali Makkal Katchi will be part of the alliance, Ms. Natarajan said the matter was still to be discussed with DMK. “When a decision is taken, it will be announced,” she said. The Congress, which is hoping to get more seats than it did last time, is hoping to keep the PMK out. DMK sources added that it looked unlikely that the PMK would be part of the DMK-Congress alliance.