‘I’m comfortable in Cong company’

On his vibes with the Congress president, he sounded almost euphoric. He claimed, ‘‘Oh, it’s all fine. Absolutely no problem. I’ve met her three or four times during the government-making process. When the issue of reservation for women came up and I was vehement while shooting down down the objections raised by some constituents of the UPA, Sonia warmly appreciated it.’’

He claimed that when he stuck to his position that his party would join the UPA government, PM Manmohan Singh profusely complimented him, saying, ’You’re an idealist.’ Explaining the rationale behind the decision to keep out of the government, Vaiko noted that even in 1989, he had argued against the DMK joining the V.P.Singh-led National Front government. At the time he was still with the DMK, he broke away only in 1993.

‘‘You see, the regional parties have their own identities, their own compulsions…if you become part of a coalition government, you have to make a lot of compromises that could hurt your situation locally. We can’t afford to do that… I too underwent a similar crisis when we were forced to support POTA as part of the NDA, much against our wish … I don’t want to be faced with a similar dilemma again,’’ he said.

He also said that he did not think that Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh had any ulterior motive in seeking an extension of the term of the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency probing the Rajiv assassination. ‘‘The Congress leaders have time and again made it clear that the DMK is no more a suspect in their eyes and that it had been acquitted in the final report of the Jain Commission. So what’s the big deal if the MDMA continues with its work?’’ he wondered.

Asked whether he would urge the Centre to help kickstart the Sri Lankan peace process, he said it was for the External Affairs ministry to take necessary steps in the matter, but hastened to add, ‘‘If anything that they do affects the interests of the Lankan Tamils, we would certainly object.’’