As DMK breaks ranks, CPM rethinks tactics

As the BJP said it would support in Parliament any steps taken by the Government to impose President8217;s rule in Uttar Pradesh, the CPIM had taken a firm decision that it would oppose them. However on Monday, against the backdrop of the Congress Working Committee meeting, there were questions within the Left on whether the DMK had been driven to join the pro-President8217;s rule section following the CPIM8217;s efforts to get the AIADMK to join the group opposing the use of Article 356 in Uttar Pradesh.

A top Left leader suggested that the CPIM8217;s efforts to build a strong anti-President8217;s rule combine on the Uttar Pradesh issue had created an unlikely group of naysayers comprising the CPIM, AIADMK and TDP. The efforts to get in touch with AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa had perhaps cost the backing of the DMK, which had initially opposed moves for imposition of President8217;s rule in Uttar Pradesh and the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. The Left leader said it was a 8220;mistake8221; to try and 8220;cosy up to Jayalalithaa8221;. The NCP, whom the CPIM had also approached to oppose President8217;s rule in Uttar Pradesh, has also ignored the party8217;s reasoning.

The questions arose even as Mulayam, who has been in regular touch with the CPIM leadership, is believed to have conveyed to his political friends that he was reconciled to his dismissal and the imposition of President8217;s rule, Left sources said. Within the CPIM too unanimity exists only on the issue of imposition of President8217;s rule, but the party is ambiguous on an alliance with the Mulayam government. The Uttar Pradesh unit of the party, for instance, opposes President8217;s rule but does not want an alliance with the SP.