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UPA in
crisis as DMK quits government, dumps Congress
Sunday March 06, 2011 09:53:21 AM,
IANS
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Chennai/New Delhi: Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK Saturday ended its seven-year alliance
with the Congress and pulled out of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government after running into roadblocks over seat
sharing in assembly elections only a month away.
The dramatic decision, announced after a meeting of DMK leaders
including Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, robbed Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's government of majority support in the Lok Sabha
where the Congress-led UPA coalition will now have only 256 MPs --
less than the half-way 272.
But with the DMK saying it would still give "issue-based support",
a stand similar to that of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP), Congress sources said there was no immediate danger
to the UPA government.
The DMK move, however, took the Congress by surprise. One of its
leaders, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, called the decision "sudden".
The DMK move followed the Congress insistence on contesting from
63 of Tamil Nadu's 234 assembly seats while a peeved DMK was
willing to concede only 60.
As the Congress remained adamant and reportedly made it clear that
it would also pick the 63 seats, Karunanidhi lashed out past
Friday midnight, calling the Congress stand "unjustified".
At the Saturday evening meeting, DMK leaders voiced bitterness
vis-a-vis the Congress and decided it was time to part ways with a
party they had allied with since the 2004 Lok Sabha election.
DMK leader and former central minister T.R. Baalu denied the
decision was linked to the raging spectrum corruption scandal
which led to the arrest of DMK's former communications minister A.
Raja and to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid on
Karunanidhi's family-owned Kalaignar TV.
A DMK statement said the Congress intransigence showed it was not
keen on having it as an ally. "Hence we decided to pull out," it
said.
Baalu said the decision had been conveyed to Congress leaders in
New Delhi. He added that the DMK's six ministers in the Manmohan
Singh council of ministry would submit their resignation.
The snapping of relations left the Congress high and dry in Tamil
Nadu, where it had supported the Karunanidhi government for the
past five years while taking DMK support for its government in
Puducherry.
With Tamil Nadu set to pick a new assembly April 13, the Congress
is without a major ally in a state where politics continues to be
dominated by the DMK and its arch rival, the AIADMK.
Both the DMK and AIADMK have sewed up alliances with several
smaller parties for the elections that will see a close contest.
Some Congress leaders appeared to indicate earlier in the day that
they expected the worst in Tamil Nadu.
"(I hope) they don't break ties," central Health Minister and
Congress in-charge for Tamil Nadu Ghulam Nabi Azad said in Jammu,
a day after holding talks with DMK leaders in Chennai.
Finance Minister and Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee admitted
there were "problems" but asserted that "problems will be
resolved".
In an unusually sharp public attack on the Congress, with whose
president Sonia Gandhi he has always enjoyed a close relationship,
Karunanidhi said he initially wanted to give the Congress 51 seats
to contest.
He added that he increased the number to 53, then to 55, further
to 58 and finally to 60.
But when the Congress scaled up its demand, he asked: "Is it
practical for the Congress to demand 63 seats and expect them to
be given?"
Even after allocating 60 seats to the Congress, the DMK would be
left with just 122 for itself. If it conceded 63, it would be left
with just two over the halfway mark in the 234-member house.
In the meantime, the AIADMK has signed seat-sharing agreements
with six smaller parties, giving them 43 seats. It is expected to
sign similar pacts with the two Left parties Sunday.
The AIADMK also has an alliance with the DMDK of
actor-turned-politician Vijayakant. DMK leaders feel this would
prevent the AIADMK from embracing the Congress even at the last
minute since it does not have excess seats to give away.
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