Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The swinging fortunes of allies in the newly formed United Progressive Alliance can be gauged by the reaction of members over Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s refusal to become prime minister. Emotions swung from shock to indifference to a collective sigh of relief.
In a stunning turnaround, the DMK agreed to join the government, while the NCP is expected to announce its decision of joining in a day.
DMK chief M. Karunanidhi, who had maintained he needed ‘‘time’’ to think about joining the government, agreed within 12 hours of Sonia’s refusal. All he said was, ‘‘We will work for the stability of this government.’’
DMK sources underline the ‘stability’ issue while explaining this change of heart. ‘‘Now that the foreigner issue is gone, the BJP is sure to unleash the ‘stability’ canard and we did not want to give them a chance,’’ sources said.
The party denies Sonia’s foreign origin was an issue as it had formed a pre-poll alliance with Congress, and had projected her as their joint leader. ‘‘It is only to strengthen the hands of Manmohan Singh, we have joined the government,’’ said the source.
The DMK’s earlier decision to wait and watch was prompted largely by Karunanidhi’s son M.K.Stalin, who wanted the party to concentrate on the Assembly elections due in 2006. However, the overeagerness of the PMK, a DMK ally, to join the government and the pressure from ministerial aspirants in the party appears to have forced the DMK chief to do an about-turn.
Though the party has several ministerial aspirants, the most controversial name doing the rounds is Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, who won from Tiruchengode constituency. She was detained under TADA for allegedly harbouring LTTE cadre.
On the other hand, the NCP is certainly relieved it does not have to face the awkwardness of dealing with the foreigner issue anymore. ‘‘It would have been awkward for Pawar to take a Cabinet post in a Sonia-led government,’’ said a party source.
NCP leader Praful Patel said: ‘‘Manmohan Singh paid a courtesy call to Pawar this afternoon to inform him about the change in leadership. As far as joining the government, we are awaiting the Congress proposal.’’
The Samajwadi Party, seen as an ‘‘uninvited guest’’ in the new alliance, was indifferent to Sonia’s decision. The party announced it will extend outside support. SP general secretary Amar Singh added: ‘‘We had decided to follow the Left parties and since the CPI(M) is not joining the government, we are also not joining it,’’ he added.
By keeping out of the Cabinet, the SP is fashioning itself on the Chandrababu Naidu model, and hoping to extract maximum benefits for UP. ‘‘We may not be king or kingmaker, but by aligning with the Left, we will have bigger influence,’’ says an SP member.
At the other end of the alliance is crestfallen RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan. The two leaders, the first to endorse Sonia’s supremacy in the Hindi heartland, suddenly see their status being snatched away.
