Chennai: The DMK-Congress relationship, already under strain after the Assembly bypolls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, will suffer further discord with the TNCC chief S. Thirunavukkarasar openly rejecting DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin's demand for white paper into the treatment for former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
“There is no use spreading rumours on Jayalalithaa's treatment and there is no need for black or white paper”, the DMK ally said, indicating that the Congress is not on the same page with the DMK which has come out with frequent allegations of lack of transparency in Jayalalithaa's treatment. Thirunavukkarasar said the former Chief Minister was treated by doctors of Apollo Hospitals and AIIMS, besides a doctor from London.
Supporting a statement of PMK leader S. Ramadoss who demanded a white paper on the treatment details of Jayalalithaa, Stalin had said the central and state governments should come out with the details of treatment for Jayalalithaa.
This is not the first indication of a strained leadership between the two allies, who were together for the Assembly bypolls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who visited Jayalalithaa at the Apollo Hospital, did not show the same gesture to DMK leader M. Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital.
When Rahul Gandhi visited Chennai to pay homage to Jayalalithaa, the DMK leader was in hospital. The relationship became strained after the seat sharing arrangement for the local body elections. The DMK turned down the demand of Congress for a state-wide formula for seat sharing and left the district leadership to share the local bodies. Congress functionaries from most of the districts complained that the DMK had humiliated the national party and demanded renegotiation of the deal.
There was a mutual truce between the two parties when the Assembly bypolls were announced in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The Congress too needed DMK support for its Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy.
But, after the polls, the Congress is looking at the local body elections, which could be held next summer and preparing to contest alone, if it did not get a proper deal.
