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Tamil Nadu : National aspect |
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During a stormy session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly last week Chief Minister Jayalalitha announced that she would urge the Prime Minister to revive the corruption case based on the report of the Sarkaria Commission against her predecessor, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. Her Government has already framed cases against half a dozen DMK leaders and is likely to arrest Karunanidhi’s son, Mr. M.K. Stalin, who has been nominated to succeed his father in the party. Apparently, Ms. Jayalalitha is losing no time to get even with her political opponents who had themselves framed innumerable cases against her.
What is important from the national point of view is the possibility of an alliance between the NDA and the AIADMK. The Prime Minister was quick to congratulate Ms. Jayalalitha on her party’s election victory, a quickness he did not show in the case of the victors in the other three States and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, which went to the polls on the same day. It is understood that they were signals too from New Delhi which forced the hands of Governor Fathima Beevi to administer the oath of office to Ms. Jayalalitha in double quick time lest anyone obtained an ad interim injunction restraining her from taking over as Chief Minister.
Though the DMK has proved to be a dependable ally, the BJP might find the AIADMK more attractive in the short run. Contrary to her “secular” exterior, Ms. Jayalalitha has abiding faith in the Hindutva philosophy and her AIADMK would be a natural ally of the BJP. She has virtually discarded her “secular” allies who contributed to the facile victory of the AIADMK as “excess baggage.” For the NDA Government at the Centre, the AIADMK is in a position to mobilise the support of 20 of the 39 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu (AIADMK 11, PMK 5, MDMK 4) as against the DMK’s 12. If the BJP remains content with the DMK, the continuance of the MDMK - which worked against the DMK alliance in the Assembly elections by using the photograph of Mr. Vajpayee in its campaign posters - in the NDA would become untenable.
After the biennial election to the Rajya Sabha in July, the AIADMK’s strength will go up by four, if not five, and correspondingly, the DMK’s strength will come down by the same number.
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