Congress not happy with DMK formula

The way the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has announced the sharing of seats in Tamil Nadu with the Congress is leading several Congressmen to conclude that the DMK has struck only a tactical alliance with the Congress for the purposes of maximising its electoral gains in the Lok Sabha elections and its chief M Karunanidhi has not closed the option of jumping ship again if an National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government returns to power at the Centre.

Tamil Nadu sends 39 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has three MPs from Tamil Nadu and thanks to the seat sharing between the DMK and the Congress, is likely to keep all three. The Congress has been given 10 seats.

Congressmen cite the case of at least two seats""Coimbatore and Nagarkoil""where the BJP has virtually no competition. Coimbatore, that returned CP Radhakrishnan of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha election, has been given to the CPI by Karunanidhi as part of the seat sharing among the constituents of the DMK-Congress led front.

Coimbatore is a communally charged constituency where an assassination attempt was made on the life of Home Minister LK Advani. Giving the seat to the Congress would have represented a fighting chance of defeating the BJP. Giving it to the CPI is like gifting it to the BJP.

Nagarkoil is another example of giving a seat away to the BJP. Here again, Pon Radhakrishnan is the sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP.

The seat has been allocated by Karunanidhi to the CPI(M), overlooking the pleas of trade unionist and five-time Congress MP, N Dennis, who was briefly with the Tamil Maanila Congress.

The seat that shares a border with Kerala, shares many of the characteristics of Kerala and has a well organised trade union constituency that Dennis has nursed over the years.

Giving the seat to the CPI(M) means the BJP has a good chance of winning it. The Nilgiris constituency, held by Master Mathen of the BJP, has been traditionally a Congress I seat and in the past, the DMK has always been the second candidate.

Now, whether the local DMK will work with the Congress to defeat the BJP is to be seen. Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu said they did not fault the negotiating skills of Kamal Nath, the party general secretary who was put in charge of talking to M Karunandhi on seat sharing.

However, they are unable to explain why for the first time, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has been given the Vellore constituency that always used to return a Muslim Congress candidate.

Top party leaders said they were in contact with P Chidambaram of the Jananayaka Peravai but the problem seems to be which seat he will be offered.

His own seat Sivganga, is held by S Natchiappan of the Congress and comes in the somewhat meagre Congress kitty. However, leaders are keen to have Chidambaram contest and talks are still on.