In a move pregnant with possibilities that can alter political equations in the South, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Thursday reached out to the Congress, hinting that it should change sides for the Lok Sabha elections as the DMK led by chief minister M Karunanidhi was a party on its way down.
The development has unsettled UPA circles, especially since sections in the Congress share such views and have been hoping for an alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa, who made the comments at a party function in Chennai, however, has maintained that the Congress should dump the DMK and dismiss the Karunanidhi government before other steps are taken. DMK leaders contend that the move is yet another attempt by Jayalalithaa to drive a wedge in the Congress-DMK camp.
??No one can save DMK anymore. DMK?s chapter is over. But, if the Congress thinks that it can lift and rescue DMK from the quicks and it has fallen it will also get caught and sink,?? she said, adding ??Those who will come with us will gain and those who will not be with us will lose.?? She said, she was giving this suggestion to Congress for the sake of old friendship.
Congress leaders, especially those from TN share the assessment that the DMK is on a weak wicket and continuing the alliance with them will prove to be counterproductive. Party MPs feel that their chances of re-election will get bolstered if there is a realignment of forces and the Congress and AIADMK join hands. They however agree that it will be difficult for the Congress to dump the DMK without clear reasons and justify the withdrawal of support to the Karunanidhi government.
The Sri Lanka issue may have presented one such opportunity where the Congress leadership has refused to toe the line advocated by its southern allies. However, it is the PMK which has vociferously taken up cudgels against the Centre while the DMK has drawn a clear line as far as its protestations on the issue is concerned. The AIADMK, moreover, is strongly opposed to the LTTE, a line that goes well with the Congress.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, the DMK-led alliance, which included Congress, Left, MDMK and PMK, swept all the 39 seats blanking out the AIADMK-BJP alliance. On Thursday, Jayalalithaa also said she enjoyed good personal equations with the late prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and that was one of the reasons for her suggestion. She also said that Congress by snapping ties with the DMK will ??remedy the sin?? it had committed by aligning with that party.
