May 24, 1999
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TAMIL NADU Nowhere Men With the Congress going along with the AIADMK, the TMC has been left high and dry. By K M Thomas
It was the DMK's decision to align itself with the BJP at the Centre that overnight changed things for the TMC. Though the DMK and the TMC continue to be regional allies -- they will even be contesting the coming panchayat elections in Tamil Nadu together -- the TMC cannot get itself to support a DMK-BJP tie-up at the Centre. In the name of opposing communal politics, the TMC even forfeited an opportunity to get back at its arch Dravidian rival, the AIADMK, by agreeing to the Congress' request to vote against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government last month. "For the sake of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's pleasure, the TMC committed political harakiri," says political commentator Cho S. Ramaswamy. The decision was based on the calculation that the TMC, which claims between 15 and 20 per cent of the Tamil Nadu vote, would be a national ally of the Congress. But with the Congress deciding to go along with the AIADMK for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, the TMC, which has vowed not to be part of a Congress-AIADMK alliance -- has been left high and dry. The options before TMC chief G.K. Moopanar are far from pleasant: join the DMK-BJP combine or the Congress-AIADMK group. Either way, he will have to swallow his pride. A third front forged with formations like the Left, without the Congress or the BJP in the picture, is another alternative, albeit a weak one. Moopanar had earlier been banking on differences between the Congress and AIADMK over seat-sharing -- Jayalalitha had been demanding more seats -- to bail him out. But with Congress Working Committee member Sharad Pawar having a long meeting with Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden residence on May 13, even such hopes seemed to have been dashed. In hindsight, say TMC workers on condition of anonymity, the party should have abstained from the confidence motion in Parliament. With its role in Tamil Nadu limited since it has just 39 MLAs in the 234-member Assembly -- the DMK strength is 173 -- they say the party should have maintained its standing at the national level. According to one of them, had the party chosen to abstain from voting, it would have been the end of Jayalalitha's political career and the TMC could have taken advantage of the situation, positioning itself as an alternative to the DMK. "In the name of opposing communal politics, the TMC lost the opportunity to eliminate the forces of corruption. It's clearly a high-horse stand that is costing the party dearly and leading it nowhere," he continues. While the TMC is desperately seeking to reestablish its identity, some disillusioned members like former MPs N. Dennis and Adaikalaraj and MLA Ayyavo Vandayar have joined the Congress. A state Congress leader interprets the acceptance of Dennis into the Congress as an indication by Sonia that she wants all TMC members to follow suit. TMC leaders clarify that a few swallows do not make a summer. But the question is how the party will cope with this summer and face the elections in autumn. |
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Elections
are never complete without some new alliances being made and some old ones being broken.
The run-up to the coming mid-term Lok Sabha election is no different. In the wake of the
surprise realignments that preceded the BJP-led Government's fall at the Centre, parties
parties are carefully weighing their options in order to arrive at the right equations. In
the process, some regional parties like the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) find themselves
in an unenviable position. 
