AIADMK warms up to Congress, pushes for Mufti govt dismissal

The AIADMK usually friendly to the BJP, is cosying up to the Congress instead. Its group leader in the Lok Sabha P Venugopal today stood up to associate himself with Congress chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia after he raised Masarat Alam’s release.

Scindia took on the Narendra Modi government by contending that the decision was taken when Jammu and Kashmir was under central rule. He said a district commissioner had informed the state home secretary that Masarat’s detention had become “non-est” (non-existent) as per a court order and a fresh detention order had to be issued. “Why wasn’t a fresh order issued?” Scindia sought to know, wondering if Home Minister Rajnath Singh had “misled” the House. Getting up after Scindia had finished, Venugopal said, “I associate with him.”

Much before he spoke, Scindia could be seen with Venugopal on the front bench, showing him the same document he would later flaunt in the House. Given the strict code J Jayalaithaa has enforced on her MPs, Venugopal would not have sided with the Congress on any matter without a clear signal from her.

Even on Monday, Sonia Gandhi could be seen directing her party members to let Venugopal, seated on the same bench as she, have his say on Masarat. Struggling to make everybody around her fall in line, she leaned forward at least thrice to catch the eye of Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai at the far end of her row. Obviously, Thambidurai could step in and get his party leader a chance to speak. The few words Venugopal got in are indicative of a possible shift.