Chennai: As India gets ready for the excitement of Parliament Poll in May 2014, all political leaders in Tamil Nadu, big and small, are hurrying with their machinations— overt and covert— to sew up new alliances and firm up the existing ones so as to get as many seats as possible from the basket of 39 in the state and one in Puducherry.
The BJP has been ‘untouchable’ all these years in this Dravidian turf because of its ‘fundamentalist’ tag and the very weak cadre base but now it’s the turn of the Congressmen to be shunned by all.
The recent drubbing in four states and the ‘betrayal’ in the 2G spectrum scam that led to Kalaignar’s daughter Kanimozhi spending 193 days in Tihar jail have fractured its alliance with the DMK that had yielded eight seats in Tamil Nadu and also Puducherry for V Narayanasamy.
But, now, no TN Congressman dreams of even a holiday in Delhi. There are rumours that some of them, including one influential Central minister, are eyeing Pondy but Narayanasamy will not let go.
Some diehard optimists in the Congress party are, however, coming up with eleventh hour prescriptions hoping to grab some twigs to save from May’s deluge.
Attacking Sri Lanka for its arrest of TN fishermen is one such issue the TN Congressmen hope to gain from. While the DMK chief Karunanidhi has dubbed Delhi’s handling of the fishermen issue as “just eyewash” and dispatched his Parliament group T R Baalu to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with a group of TN fishermen on Saturday, the Congress’s Cuddalore MP K.S. Alagiri took another fishermen’s team to PM on Monday (December 30).
Also, the Congressmen are now expected to take some credit for the Centre granting some 10 new water projects for Chennai.
The projects were approved by the Union ministry of urban development “recently” but the Press Information Bureau (PIB) announced the news on its website on Monday (December 30).
It is relevant to note that the Centre will only provide 35 per cent of the total cost of Rs 27114.11 lakh while the state contributes equal amount and the rest is again raised mostly from the state bodies and some financial institutions.
In contrast, the Centre’s response to chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s requests for help for the districts hit by the Thane cyclone was pitifully low.
AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa is sure to gain from these fractured alliances.
As it seems to be a four-cornered battle, as of now, her dream of playing a significant role in the formation of the next government at the Centre is closer to realisation.
DMK chief Karunanidhi is trying his best to thwart that, even pleading with DMDK’s Captain to join his camp, notwithstanding all the bad blood that flowed between the two in the past.
Not many of the Captain’s lieutenants would have forgotten that their party headquarters was demolished during the last DMK regime; but then, as everyone knows, politics is all about manipulating out of such embarrassing divisions.
It’s not just the divisions in her rival camps that place Jayalalithaa way ahead of the others in the race.
Her unique infrastructure projects and welfare schemes, particularly the Amma Canteens and transport initiatives, have earned her public approval.
Also, the power managers are exuding confidence that electricity cuts will disappear early 2014, well before the poll day.
There is clearly no anti-incumbency factor and her projection as a possible Prime Minister candidate could fetch the AIADMK serious electoral consideration, pollsters feel.
Next: A year lost for TN Congress
A year lost for TN Congress
Chennai: It is a year the state Congress would want to forget. It began bad and ended worse.
The party’s popularity hit the nadir. There was squabble among its leaders as usual. One leader from the state Congress joined the Union Cabinet and another quit it, hoping to repair some damage ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
None could have summed up the Tamil Nadu Congress’ sorry state of affairs better than Union finance minister P. Chidambaram who publicly admitted here recently that it is unfortunate that they were isolated in the state politics.
Any attempt to put up a brave front would only embarrass them further, for, not even political greenhorns want to be associated with the grand old party of Indian politics in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Fewer happy faces were seen as Satyamurthy Bhavan got decked up for celebrating the 129th anniversary of the party here last week.
If the ones rewarded with ministerial berths like Sudarshana Natchiappan paid lip service to pay gratitude to the Gandhi scions, disgruntled ones like Karti P. Chidambaram murmured discomfort in private.
The discomfiture was most conspicuous when the AICC finally reconstituted the TNCC early this month after 12 years, the only silver lining the party could behold in a troublesome year.
Leaders like Union shipping minister G.K. Vasan did not mind taking occasional dig at the government, happily fuelling speculations spread by his lieutenants who are hell-bent on the mirasdar from Kabisthalam reviving the Tamil Manila Congress.
State Congress president B.S. Gnanadesikan did not fail to defend the indefensible occasionally. Jayanthi Natarajan was the first to come to terms with reality. She quit the ministerial berth to work for the party.
Choosing to back DMK’s Kanimozhi, instead of the DMDK in the biennial RS polls, would be one decision the Congress would regret now.
A snubbed Vijayakanth’s silence to Congress overtures and positive response to the DMK had dashed even the very little hope left in the Congress.
Congressmen need courage this New Year as the party heads for a lonely battle of ballots in 2014 after long.
TN Congress could end up not only losing the existing eight MP seats but also go without representation in the LS from the state if there is no change in its alliance options.
In all, it’s a year lost for the Congress.
