Cong manages to keep DMK in good humour

After a blow-hot blow-cold approach since  both the parties lost miserably in the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday looked supremely affirmative to assert that Congress-DMK ties are intact.

 After his meeting with DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi at the latter’s residence here during which they discussed the current political scene, Mukherjee sought to conclusively put an end to “speculative reports” on  the future of the alliance.

“My respectful submission is that the alliance is there, it will continue and it will be strengthened,” Mukherjee told reporters, in a near-categorical declaration that surprised party men of both the parties.

 The reasons are not hard to seek. The DMK is evidently unhappy over the Congress’ impuissance to save its men from the 2G mess.  This apart, several Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu are equally listless and want to snap ties for the coming panchayat elections in October as the ‘taint tag’ will hurt the party  more.

Even after AIADMK led by J Jayalalitha opening up more options after a resounding victory in the Assembly polls,  Mukherjee’s assertive optimism about Congress-DMK tie-up being strengthened should have had the party high-command’s ‘blessing’, Congress sources here said.

In the backdrop of  Dayanidhi’’s exit, the Congress core committee  met in Delhi three days ago is said to have discussed these issues in detail.

Already, former telecom minister A Raja and MP Kanimozhi have been arrested in connection with the case.

Mukherjee’s gesture might  be out of Congress’  unwillingness to search for new allies.  The DMK with 19 MPs in Lok Sabha, including Dalit leader Thol. Thirumavalavan, continued to be rated high for their reliability than other potential allies like Lalu Yadav, sources told Deccan Herald.

While Congressmen here concede that DMK was still their best bet to “ensure stability” of the government when no political party was ready for polls, they also point out the DMK-Congress alliance at the state level has almost reached ‘an unworkable level’.
“Both parties have hard feelings on what led to our (Congress-DMK) poll debacle; it’s better to part ways and go it alone in the panchayat polls,” a senior Congressmen here said.