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Karunanidhi joins allies on Ayodhya

With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi threatening to pull out if the Vajpayee Government went against the national agenda of governance, the DMK partner in the National Democratic Alliance has joined other allies of the BJP in raising the communal bogey over the Ayodhya issue.

Coming a day after the Vajpayee Government defeated an Opposition-sponsored motion over the issue in the Lok Sabha, Karunanidhi's threat holds good for the future, into which the DMK is already looking into, according to party sources.

"We are looking ahead," said a senior DMK leader. "With the Ayodhya demolition case coming up for hearing in the trial court on January 18, and the Justice Liberhans Commission re-activating its work, there is now need for being attentive about the future course," said the leader.

"Though progress of these processes could be slow and so could be those of the Ayodhya cases pending before the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court, every stage of the proceedings could be crucial. There is as much at stake for the BJP and its allies," he added.

Karunanidhi's declaration came at an iftar party hosted by the Tamil Nadu Muslim League, an ally of the DMK, on Friday evening.

He promised to include reservations for minorities in the DMK's manifesto for the assembly elections and vowed not to give up their cause, which he claimed to have been fighting for, all through his political life. "You have given me a place in your hearts," Karunanidhi told the Muslim community, and promised "not to desert" them.

If Karunanidhi's declaration was a natural follow-up to the DMK's easy and continued identification with Muslims in the state since long, his AIADMK rivals do not take kindly to his latest outburst. "A wise politician, Karunanidhi is locking the stables after the horses have bolted," said an AIADMK leader.

"Why did he not make this declaration before the Lok Sabha vote? Why did not the DMK share sentiments publicly expressed by the Trinamul Congress and Telugu Desam Party? The DMK distanced itself from secular forces in the Opposition and secular allies of the BJP."

The DMK did not field a known face in the Lok Sabha debate. With party strategist and Union Industry Minister Murasoli Maran convalescing after a heart ailment, Environment Minister T R Baalu was expected to stand in. Instead, the baton was passed on to S S Palanimanickam, a lesser-known party MP outside the state.

"Palanimanickam's arguments focussed on state politics and not on national issues," said a TMC leader. "First, he made a veiled reference to the AIADMK's support to the kar seva in Ayodhya."

Likewise, he referred to convicted persons, like AIADMK's T M Selvaganapthy, sentenced to a prison term in a corruption case, continuing to be a Lok Sabha member, pending his appeal, and compared it to the Opposition demand for the resignation of three ministers charge-sheeted in the Ayodhya demolition case.

"Karunanidhi also referred to Palanimanickam's speech at the iftar party, but you cannot bring in local politics and state-level equations when talking about national issues," said the TMC leader.

"Selvaganapathy's continuance as an MP should not be confused with Union Home Minister L K Advani's continuance, because the symbolism in each case stands for different things, and at totally different levels."

The DMK leader begged to differ. "There is nothing wrong in referring to issues pertaining to Tamil Nadu. If the TDP and Trinamul Congress took up a particular line, it is only because of regional compulsions."

According to him, Karunanidhi was the first to protest against Vajpayee's statement when he first made it last week. "But when the issue moved away from Ayodhya and revolved around stability at the Centre, we changed tactics. After all, the AIADMK as much wants the Vajpayee Government out of its way at the Centre, as it wants us out in the state, and Jayalalitha has been working overtime, behind the scenes, to this end."

Indications are that the DMK would go slow on the BJP until the assembly elections. There is truth in private claims of BJP leaders that the "DMK needs us as much as we need them", particularly in the context of the assembly polls. "If it came to that, the Vajpayee Government could consider other options to stay in power, or the BJP could even decide to go down fighting on the Ayodhya issue, if not now, later. But the DMK may still need the Vajpayee votes of the BJP, which had made the difference between victory and defeat in the Lok Sabha polls of 1999 and a year earlier.

Alternatively, if not additionally, the party may require TMC votes, but you cannot have the TMC and BJP under the same umbrella. The DMK is known to be working on the TMC, to bring it into a grand alliance, of the type thought of by Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for West Bengal, of which the BJP continued to be a part.

But the BJP's calculated revival of the Ayodhya issue may have queered the pitch for the DMK, which seems to be re-evaluating all options for the assembly polls.

EARLIER REPORT
DMK threatens to pull out of NDA government

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