The picture of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi seated next to Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the swearing-in of Ms Pratibha Patil as President shows the  clout the DMK has in the UPA government, a clout he has used to deny the local Congress a share in power though he is heading a minority government supported by allies. With Ms Gandhi being grateful to Mr Karunanidhi for delivering 40 Lok Sabha seats to the UPA, thus paving the way for its coming to power at the Centre, the Congress in the state is reduced to an appendage of the DMK.

The AIADMK is rudderless with Ms J Jayalalitha too imperious to play the role of the leader of the opposition and confining herself to statement wars. If the PMK sees in such a scenario a chance to play the role of a constructive opposition and thus strengthen itself in the long run, it can hardly be blamed. Mr Karunanidhi’s impatience with sniping or friendly fire from his own allies is attributable to the king-can–do-no-wrong mindset.

The PMK founder, Dr Ramadoss, has been carping at the government for quite some time now. More often than not, Mr Karunanidhi has yielded, be it on shelving his pet project to build a satellite city near Chennai or opting for a greenfield airport near Sriperumpudur in the place of a second airport at Chennai in the face of opposition from the PMK which represented the people likely to be displaced by such mega projects. Recently, Mr Karunanidhi cancelled cooperative polls following PMK’s criticism of excesses by DMK men. The PMK has opposed the entry of MNCs like Reliance into retail trade and the allotment of land to the Tatas for a titanium dioxide project. Dr Ramadoss has ridiculed the DMK’s stand that the election of Ms Pratibha Patil will pave the way for 33 per cent reservation for women, saying that the President will have no role in the matter. Following such constant snipings, Mr Karunanidhi has warned that there is a limit to his patience. However, neither side has any immediate option. Dr Ramadoss cannot upset the apple cart as his son Anbumani is a minister at the Centre. Mr Karunanidhi cannot afford to lose a valuable, if unreliable, ally to the AIADMK. So the shadow-boxing may go on, at least until the next Lok Sabha elections.