Aditi Phadnis: Mutual accommodation

PLAIN POLITICS

The DMK has decided to appropriate Sonia Gandhi's sacrifice plank as its own.

At this point, Sonia Gandhi's resignation is top of the mind recall for all Congressmen, including those in the states that are going to have Assembly elections "" Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and West Bengal. But soon, the party will have to plunge itself into the election campaign and then Gandhi's sacrifice "" for the second time "" will be among the myriad issues on the basis of which voters will decide whether they want to vote for the Congress or against it.

In Tamil Nadu's political culture, a woman's chastity and sacrifice is a virtue prized above rubies. The heroine of Tamil epic Silappatikaram, Kannagi, whose philandering husband Kovalan was wrongly accused of theft and whose wrath turned the city of Madurai to ashes, is worshipped in many parts of Tamil Nadu. The theme still has so much public resonance that in 2002, the inexplicable shifting of a massive bronze statue of Kannagi from the Marina in Chennai threatened to turn into a full-fledged movement with Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi warning of self-immolation and fast unto death. In the circumstances, parallels between Kannagi (who, by the way, is one of Karunanidhi's favourite historical characters and he even scripted a film, Poompuhar, on her story) and Sonia Gandhi are likely to draw much applause. Unfortunately, the Congress is contesting only 48 seats on its own in the state. However, it is clear from DPA leader Era Sezhiyan's enthusiastic endorsement of Gandhi's action that the DPA has decided to appropriate the Congress leader's sacrifice plank as its own.

This is unusual. In Bihar, for instance, where the Janata Dal (U) and the BJP are in alliance, the coalition government might suggest the illusion of peaceful co-existence but on the ground, relations between the two parties are not smooth. Similarly, the functioning of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress coalition in Maharashtra is fractious and weighed down by mutual suspicion.

Not so in the opposition coalition in Tamil Nadu. Indeed, if the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) comes to power in the Assembly elections, the reason will be the smooth and seamless coalition that Karunanidhi has managed to cobble together.

With competing loyalties, factions, egos and sectarian interests, how hard it is to run a coalition is something only Atal Bihari Vajpayee knows "" followed by Karunanidhi. Through judicious management of the internal politics of the political parties in his alliance, Karunanidhi has been understanding but not intrusive about the political problems of his allies.

Many were mystified how an actor, M Karthik, was suddenly launched into politics and that, too, via a Left ally, the Forward Bloc in Tamil Nadu. For those who didn't know there was a Forward Block in the state, it was nurtured by no less than freedom fighter Pasumponn Muthuramalinga Thevar and has a sizeable following. Jayalalithaa asked some officials in the covert operations department of the Tamil Nadu government to delicately broach the matter of splitting the DPA. After some enquiries, it transpired that Forward Bloc leader and lone MLA, L Santhanam was ready to say publicly that he thought the Forward Bloc should fight the Assembly election in alliance with the ADMK rather than the DMK.

The All India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas rushed to Chennai. Somebody in the DMK headquarters recalled that Karthik's father had been a Forward Bloc activist and suggested he be put in charge. Santhanam was expelled and Karthik made the new state general secretary. This was an entirely DMK-sponsored operation. Santhanam's supporters demanded that the party must go with ADMK. The Forward Bloc has thus decided to go alone in Tamil Nadu but if the DMK comes to power, there is hardly any doubt that the Forward Bloc will be accommodated in the government.

The DMK-Congress mutual accommodation extends much beyond this. Periodically, Congress general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu is handed lists of DMK supporters who should be given jobs, while DMK ministers are given instructions on which Congress workers should be appointed to various government posts. Minister of state for law, K Venkatapathy is DMK MP from Cuddalore. He has facilitated the appointment of half a dozen standing counsel from Tamil Nadu in various state capitals. Similarly, minister of state for finance, S S Palanimanickam, who has won from Thanjavur never says no to requests for appointments that come from AICC or from the office of Veerappa Moily, the party general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu. The 13 ministers from Tamil Nadu work not for the DMK or the Congress, but for one another's parties and organisations.

Because Karunanidhi has such an encyclopedic grasp of Tamil Nadu and has fostered political relationships overtly as well as covertly he has many invisible friends. Karunanidhi actively canvassed to have K Krishnaswami appointed as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. As Krishnaswami is the father-in-law of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader and Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, it is a cosy arrangement that suits everyone.

The one that slipped out of the Karunanidhi net is one of his most gifted chelas , V Gopalaswamy. Realising he would always be number two to Karunanidhi's considerably less charismatic son, Stalin, Gopalaswamy reckoned he would have greater political leverage in the ADMK. The problem is, in all the Assembly constituencies where Gopalaswamy's party, the MDMK has a presence, the ADMK also has a following. In Pollachi, in the Lok Sabha elections, the MDMK got 56 per cent of the vote. But the ADMK got 37 per cent in 2004. Similarly in Sivakasi, the MDMK got 56 per cent of the vote but the ADMK totted up 36 per cent. In other words, in the constituencies where the MDMK will stake a claim, Jayalalithaa's party has a base and will resent being denied the seats. In the rest of India, this would translate as certain sabotage. Maybe, Tamil Nadu is different.

Even as we speak, there are cruel references to Karunanidhi's age, his incontinence and his failing prowess. But the alliance he has wrought "" and run "" is formidable. Be under no illusions. Tamil Nadu could spring a surprise in the Assembly elections.