The ruling Congress party could placate its recalcitrant ally Trinamool Congress by letting the home ministry to raise some questions on the alleged highhandedness of the West Bengal?s Left Front government. After its parliamentary party?s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Wednesday, Trinamool Congress leaders claimed to have got an assurance in this regard.

The Congress? budging is perceived as a reciprocal gesture, given that Trinamool had retracted from its stated position it would be ?happy? if a joint parliamentary committee is set up on the 2G spectrum scam. The meeting between the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party and Gandhi, for the first time since the 2009 General Elections was short but significant. In 10 minutes, the Trinamool members made their point and secured an assurance from Gandhi that the West Bengal Left Front government?s actions (termed political intimidation by the Trinamool) in the state would be duly dealt with. The appointment, granted after several failed attempts to secure it comes at a time when the Trinamool Congress had hedged its bets on the issue of the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The Trinamool Congress had given its ally at the Centre, the Congress some heart stopping moments with its chief Mamata Banerjee saying that she would be ?happy? if a JPC is set up on the issue. It took some cajoling before the party said that they would go along with anything the Congress decided.

The party?s parliamentary party spokesperson Sudeip Bandhopadhyaya led the delegation and took with him six volumes of documentary ?evidence? of the way the Left Front government was apparently dealing with political dissent. Gandhi reportedly told the delegation to meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram on the matter, to which Bandhopadhyaya replied that they had met Chidambaram ?18 times? on the matter and twice met Singh. ?This is the first time however, that we feel that something might be done,? he is reported to have said. A clear indication that support would come at a price. The Opposition BJP and the Left however, were not so constrained on a day when A Raja?s residences were raided by the CBI in Delhi and in Chennai. ?This is far too little too late,? said M Venkaiah Naidu. The AIADMK?s V Maitreyan was less circumspect. ?It took too long for the CBI to do this, in fact Raja should be arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) for a scam of this magnitude,? he said.

The BJP added that the raids in no way detracted from the opposition?s demand for a JPC on the matter. Naidu said that the JPC was the most appropriate forum for looking into all aspects of the scam. With the SC saying that the probe could extend to 2001, when the NDA was in power, Naidu said that this too could be done.

DMK unfazed; MPs rally around Raja

The DMK seemed unfazed on Wednesday even as the CBI swooped down at former telecom minister A Raja?s houses in Delhi, Chennai and his native village in Tamil Nadu for raids in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

Although party patriarch M Karunanidhi said action would be taken against Raja if he was found guilty, his statement was tempered with a simultaneous sharp attack on the BJP. ?If Raja is found guilty we will take action against him, but the BJP too needs to be probed in the 2G spectrum case,? he said in Chennai. According to party insiders, the Tamil Nadu chief minister?s comments reflect the unique position that Raja occupies in the Karunanidhi family. Raja is perceived to be close to the DMK patriarch?s youngest offspring, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi.

Throughout the day however, the DMK held fast to Raja. Even as the CBI was conducting raids at his colleague?s residence in Delhi, the party?s parliamentary party spokesperson T K S Elangovan said ?he (Raja) is our party member, he is our party MP. We stand by him.? T R Baalu, the leader of its parliamentary party, met with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on Wednesday, and also had a short meeting with PM Manmohan Singh, ostensibly to hand over a memorandum relating to the flood situation in Tamil Nadu. ?The DMK and its party cadre has faced many ups and downs we will take this in our stride. Let the truth come out,? Baalu said later. These meetings were short, with the Congress being quite clear that it wanted as much distance as possible between it and the unfolding 2G story.

This support to Raja points to the fact that he has now become a key player in what is a game of succession being played out within chief minister M Karunanidhi?s family. This game held up government formation at the Centre in 2009 for over a week and is now being played out in Delhi again. A Raja, though not related to DMK chief minister M Karunanidhi is known to be very close to him, apart from their mutual interest in poetry and literary matters. In the camps which have accrued around Karunanidhi?s children, from different wives, Dayalu Ammal and Rajathi Ammal, he has apparently thrown in his lot with Rajya Sabha MP M Kanimozhi, the DMK patriach?s daughter from Rajathi Ammal. Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister M K Stalin is Dayalu Ammal?s son and is one of the strongest contenders as Karunanidhi?s political heir. M K Alagiri, his elder brother, and Union minister for chemicals and fertillisers may have his own views on whether this is just or fair, (he insisted that the post of party chief be based on elections and closed ballots) but on the matter of blocking other players from entering the fray, both brothers appear firm. ?There is a strong sense of a faction feud in the family because of criss-crossing alliances and all have not just mutual self interest in common but also strong emotional reasons which spring from a complicated family tree,? is how one Congress minister diplomatically described the ongoing feud.

Kanimozhi, the youngest and a late entrant into politics, is considered Karunanidhi?s literary heir. She has become more visible and after the falling out between Alagiri and her cousins Kalanidhi and Dayanidhi Maran. The 2G scam seems to have brought matters to a head sooner than Karunanidhi would have liked, as far far division of spoils within the family are concerned. The fragile peace he brokered by dividing the turfs between Delhi and Tamil Nadu in 2009 now appears in jeopardy. The voices in support of Raja, and those secretly demanding that the party distance itself from him will only grow louder in the next few days.