DC Edit | TVK Set To Gain In TN’s Shifting Political Milieu

The Tamil Nadu political landscape has been changing rapidly. The defining moment had come the day a third force came through in the cinema actor-turned politician C. Joseph Vijay whose fledgling party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam finished ahead of the two Dravidian majors DMK and AIADMK in the April polls. There has been such a churn since then that, while allies are leaving the DMK, the leaders of AIADMK are crossing over in droves to join the TVK.

The stunning arrival of a new force breaking the Dravidian duopoly of 60 years was bound to shake the political turf, but some of the happenings are not exactly in conformity with the best traditions of principle-driven politics in which those defeated stayed in the game while donning the coat of the opposition while the winners ruled the state.

The charges of horse trading are renting the air as the Vijay government is dependent on old allies of the DMK to pass the majority mark in the Assembly. The issue was sensationalised as a hefty bribe was allegedly offered to an MLA of the ruling party to vote against the Speaker in a prospective no confidence motion and three members owing allegiance to a politician who was a minister in AIADMK and DMK cabinets in the past were arrested.

Elected representatives resigning in order to shift allegiance or affiliation may be more correct than defying the party whip in voting in the Assembly, but it does not satisfy the first principles of politics as it is a negation of the mandate that the people gave in electing the individual as a representative of a certain party. But then this phenomenon of shifting allegiances is not new as we witnessed it in Maharashtra and more recently in Bengal.

When the anti-defection laws were tightened in the wake of the “Aya Ram Gaya Ram” days of incessant floor crossing, what was not envisaged was the current scenario of a considerable majority of people’s representatives wishing to change allegiance without giving up their seats. The two-thirds rule ameliorating defections has been misinterpreted for political convenience, but then the courts are chary of stepping into territory belonging to Speakers because of the fear of encroaching on the authority of the presiding officers of the House.

There may be reason to suspect that horse trading — a euphemism for loyalty being purchased — may be going on as elected representatives are keen on leaving parties that have been defeated in the polls. This is a scenario as much in evidence in Bengal as in Tamil Nadu where the AIADMK, which finished a distant third in the polls behind the TVK and DMK, is struggling to keep its flock together.

The strategy of backing resignations to cause bypolls in which the changing winds may be recognised is evident in Tamil Nadu. This may be against the spirit of the law, but it does not go against its wording. Such tactics enable the ruling TVK to hope to cobble a clear working majority in which it does not have to depend on the whims of new allies while obviating the necessity of operations to reward change of loyalty. Primarily, what is going on is proof of the fact that all the world loves a winner and C. Joseph Vijay is a sensation among them.