JOIN USAccording to party sources, M K Alagiri, a minister at the Centre and son of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi, and his brother M K Stalin hold divergent views on the future party strategy over its alliance with the Congress, the UPA lead party. While Alagiri is for the tie-up to continue, his younger brother wants it to be snapped. There is, however, a third option that the regional party may offer—‘outside or issue-based support’.
Thus, Karunanidhi will have a tough time to decide the issue. He will have to take a decision on the basis of advantages that the regional outfit will have in the event of breaking of relations. On the other hand, he will have to weigh losing some key ministries—five of them—if he bids good-bye to UPA.
A Congress leader told Deccan Herald: “If DMK snaps ties with us, the loss is entirely theirs. For a party that has lost power, they will not only lose whatever clout they have, they will give an opportunity to AIADMK to occupy that space”.
The mistrust that DMK developed with the Congress, which began when A Raja was arrested in the 2G scam, escalated when Kanimozhi was held on the same issue. The Friday meeting comes even as there is a cloud over the continuance of Dayanidhi Maran in the Cabinet.
Karunanidhi is angry that the Centre is doing nothing to ask the CBI, which is investigating the case, not to oppose bail to her.
However, the Congress is unmoved. The party sources say the UPA government can do little as the case is directly being monitored by the Supreme Court. If DMK pulls out, the UPA will lose the regional party’s support of 18 MPs. However, the ruling coalition is not unduly worried as it has other parties to support. Waiting in the wings is rival outfit AIADMK which has nine MPs in Lok Sabha.