NEW DELHI, MAY 12: The Congress today took the crucial gamble of going along with J Jayalalitha's ADMK for the coming elections in Tamil Nadu, after a long meeting between CWC member Sharad Pawar and Jayalalitha in Chennai, thus renewing a 13-year-old friendship which went sour for a while last year.The risk factor in this decision is huge, which the Congress leadership says it has taken note of, as the ADMK chief has to explain things on two fronts: the corruption cases involving her which are in progress and why she withdrew support to the BJP when an alternative government couldn't be formed.However, the alliance was a formality after Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided to ``sink or swim'' with the ADMK in her efforts to revive the Congress in Tamil Nadu.Yesterday, Sonia made up her mind and told Jayalalitha over the phone that she was sending the number two man in the Congress as her emissary to sew things up. By doing so, Sonia ignored both the TNCC and the AICC general secretary incharge ofTamil Nadu choosing instead to deal directly with Jayalalitha.Pawar's brief was to clinch the poll tie-up and try to garner as many seats for the Congress as possible.The first has been done and the second will take time as Pawar will return here and inform Sonia on what happened in his talks with the ADMK chief. The CWC is expected to meet after this and formalise the understanding with the ADMK following which Pawar will visit Chennai again for the nitty-gritty of the seat sharing.Top Congress sources said today's talks between Pawar and Jayalalitha were held in the backdrop of four main factors: a) the Congress is starting from zero in Tamil Nadu, b) the ADMK had 18 MPs in the last Lok Sabha, c) the Cong-ADMK alliance this time could be a broad one involving others like the Janata Party, TPMK and even the CPM and CPI and, d) Jayalalitha will have to quickly shift the campaign focus away from her withdrawal of support to the BJP which led to a series of events culminating in the midtermpolls.And after more than two hours, Pawar emerged from Poes Garden, Jaya's residence, to say they had discussed ``everything in great detail'' and that the ``nitty gritty'' will be worked out in another meeting between the two possibly in a week's time. ``We discussed everything in great detail. I explained my party's thinking to her and we reached the conclusion that we can work together. We also discussed what should be our approach towards the campaign, but seat-sharing was not discussed,'' Pawar said.He added that Jayalalitha told him some ``Left and secular parties'' had ``approached her for inclusion in the alliance'' to which the Congress had ``no objections''. ``As far as the Congress is concerned, they are all welcome. We will be happy to associate with them''.This implies that both the Congress and the ADMK might not get the number of seats they would like to contest unlike in the past when the Congress contested 26 and the ADMK 13 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Some allowancesmight have to be made for Subramanian Swamy, the TPMK and the Left if it decides to part with the DMK now that Karunanidhi has gone with the BJP.In the past, the Cong-ADMK alliance fought elections in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1996. But Kesri failed to convince Jayalalitha when he sent Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy last summer to Chennai. Now, the Sonia-Jaya equation has renewed the alliance.However, the decision puts the TMC in a spot. G.K. Moopanar has the tough choice of either going with the DMK-BJP-MDMK-PMK-TRC combine or join the Cong-ADMK-TPMK-JP group. A third front of the TMC-CPM-CPI is also possible but without either of the two major forces, the DMK and ADMK, the third front could be a weak one to start with. Then there is the Dravida Kazhagam (DK) to contend with, a growing force of Dalits in the state.However, some shape is emerging of the Congress election game plan. So far, the party has worked out initial details with the RJD in Bihar, ADMK in Tamil Nadu, RPI and PWP in Maharashtra. In Kerala, theold Cong-IUML-KC(M)-JD alliance will work again while the BSP could come around in Madhya Pradesh. That leaves Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal as two problem states where the Congress hasn't yet worked things out. Ajit Singh could be one ally in UP but that may not be enough.Meanwhile, the Congress today clarified that Sonia had ``voluntarily renounced'' her Italian citizenship on April 27, 1983, and became an Indian citizen on April 30, 1983. Party spokesperson Ajit Jogi said she had exercised her right to franchise only after becoming an Indian citizen.The party also admitted BJP leader and former UP minister Kashinath Mishra into its fold today. Mishra was a member of the BJP's state executive.
