After saying it would stay out of the government rather than compromise last week, M Karunanidhi’s Dravida Munnettra Kazhagham (DMK), the Congress Party’s second-largest ally with 18 MPs, seems to have come to an agreement over ministerial allocations.
Under the new agreement, the DMK is likely to get either IT or telecommunications, textiles, chemical and fertilisers and labour. Karunanidhi is likely to make his son M K Azhagiri, A Raja and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran Cabinet ministers (see table). His daughter Kanimozhi may be a minister of state with independent charge (a junior ministership reporting directly to the prime minister). The party will also get three minister-of-state posts.
T R Baalu, Karunanidhi’s loyal soldier and shipping and surface transport minister in the previous United Progressive Alliance regime, is likely to be dropped. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was reportedly unwilling to accommodate him on account of his poor performance last time. Congress sources said DMK was trying to accommodate Baalu as deputy speaker.
“All the issues have been resolved. We expect the DMK ministers to take the oath of office on Tuesday,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Business Standard today.
In Chennai, Kanimozhi told reporters that her party has resolved the issues with the Congress.
Union Minister and Congress General Secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu Ghulam Nabi Azad said today that he was not going to Chennai to talk to the DMK anymore. "No such visit by me to Tamil Nadu was scheduled nor do I plan to go there," he said in Delhi.
Today's deal represents a compromise of sorts by the Congress. The DMK initially pressured the Congress to accommodate five MPs — M K Azhagiri, Kanimozhi (Karunanidhi’s children), Dayanidhi Maran (Karunanidhi’s grand nephew), T R Baalu and A Raja — in Cabinet berths.
But Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee and other senior Congress leaders vehemently opposed this proposal while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was reportedly averse to DMK retaining the infrastructure portfolios. As a result, the DMK over the weekend said it would not participate in government.
Congress sources claimed that the party was compelled to meet DMK halfway, after Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, with nine MPs, managed to retain his old, prestigious portfolios of agriculture and food and civil supplies.
DMK then pointed out that if Pawar with fewer seats could retain his old portfolios, then the Dravidian party was entitled to similar treatment.
Thus, the Congress’ counter-offer was to give a similar number of ministerial berths to DMK as it had in 2004. But key infrastructure portfolios like shipping and surface transport would be taken away.
Initially, the Congress also had reservations about inducting Raja as well but finally left it for Karunanidhi to decide who should represent his party in the Council of Ministers.
Meanwhile, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, who had visited Sri Lanka a couple of days ago, met DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday night and Sunday morning to brief him about the current situation in the island state.
The UPA now has 322 seats in the Lok Sabha, including those offering outside support.
