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Journalism of Courage
After almost two years of dithering, the DMK decided to pull out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and to extend ‘‘issue-based’’ support from outside. It also decided to withdraw its two ministers in the cabinet.
The DMK chose to walk out at a time when the BJP had made up its mind to hang on to it and prefer it over the AIADMK. There is, however, a lingering hope in the BJP that DMK chief
M Karunanidhi will have second thoughts.
But the veteran of Dravidian politics, who gave the stamp of acceptability to the BJP in the south, did not leave any room for such hopes. After a high-level meeting of the party, he said in Chennai that the DMK would support the NDA as long as its national agenda was carried out efficiently. ‘‘The party would withdraw its support to the NDA if anything was done against the national agenda,’’ he said.
The DMK decision, according to sources in the BJP, is prompted by its calculations for the next Lok Sabha polls rather than the grounds cited by Karunanidhi for public consumption. Since an early election is already in the air, the DMK chief has very little time to put his electoral strategy in place.
By beginning to distance himself from the BJP, the DMK chief is obviously positioning himself to enlist Congress and Left parties as his allies, besides MDMK, in Tamil Nadu. The BJP is a weaker ally when compared to the collective strength of Congress and Left parties. AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa has hijacked the Hindutva plank from the BJP.
Union Environment and Forests Minister T R Baalu and A Raja said they would submit their resignations to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee by tomorrow. Though the actions and comments of some BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu was responsible for the DMK’s decision, the shift in the stand of the BJP on some issues like POTA, Ayodhya too was not to the liking of the party, Karunanidhi said.
Asked if the DMK would vote against the government if a no-confidence motion was moved, Karunanidhi said the party would take decision at the appropriate time taking into consideration the country’s interests.
Asked whether the DMK would participate in the NDA meeting if an invitation was extended to it, Karunanidhi said: ‘‘They (BJP) won’t invite us.’ Will DMK have an alliance with the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections? ‘‘We cannot say anything now,’’ he said.
DMK’s decision has landed Vaiko’s MDMK in an embarrassing position. With Karunanidhi citing POTA’s misuse as a reason for quitting NDA, Vaiko is left with no option but to quit the NDA. The Congress, desperate for a partner in Tamil Nadu, may have reservations about joining hands with MDMK, an unrepentant advocate of LTTE. Party sources maintained that MDMK was very unlikely to continue in the NDA.
But PMK leader S Ramadoss will have no such problems even if the AIADMK entered the NDA. He had declared that his party would stick by the BJP whatever the circumstances. Once privileged to be able to flirt with AIADMK and DMK simultaneously, the BJP may find itself all alone in the polls in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, Jayalalithaa holds the sole ray of hope for the BJP in the state.
Prime Minister Vajpayee avoided a clear-cut response to the development. ‘‘There is no official word from DMK so far,’’ he told reporters when asked to comment.
