New Delhi:
Just a month ahead of Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, the seven-year-old Congress-DMK alliance is teetering with the DMK deciding on Saturday to pull out of the UPA government at the Centre, withdrawing its six Cabinet ministers. At the core of this is the two parties' inability to agree on seat sharing in the state - the Congress wants to contest more seats than the DMK is willing to give. (Read: What upset the DMK)
The big question now is: Can the Congress still save the alliance?
Congress general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, along with Ahmed Patel, held consultations with state Congress leaders on Sunday. The final decision rests with Sonia Gandhi to salvage the situation.
As of now, nobody from the Congress has spoken to the DMK leadership, something that DMK supremo confirmed in the evening.
"No one from the Congress has approached us so far...A few parties are likely to join our alliance. It would be clear in a few days...Congress' demand for more seats is one of the reasons for our exit," Karunanidhi said. (Watch: More parties likely to join us, says Karunanidhi)
Sources say the DMK ministers will meet the Prime Minister on Monday at 11 am in Parliament to submit their resignation. (Watch: Congress putting undue pressure on us, says DMK Spokesperson) | (Watch: Friends with Congress, this is about seat-sharing, says Baalu)
Meanwhile, Karunanidhi's son and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, MK Alagiri, said the DMK decided to walk out of the alliance on their own.
"We walked out of the Congress led alliance ourselves. It will not affect the DMK's performance," said Alagiri.
"I will involve myself fully in election work now," he added.
How the numbers stack up:
In the 543-seat Lok Sabha, where the half-way mark is 272, Congress has 207 seats and along with other allies including 18 seats of DMK, UPA government has 274 seats - just 2 more than the half-way mark
The DMK has 18 seats and if it pulls out, that will leave UPA with 256 seats - way less than the half way mark.
The UPA will then have to look for some support and one of the parties that the Congress may approach is the Samajwadi Party which has 22 MPs. However, SP chief Mulayam Singh says, "Congress has neither approached us till now nor have we. But there is no threat to government at the Centre." (Watch: No threat to Govt at Centre, says Mulayam)
Meanwhile, CPM leader Prakash Karat said troubles within the Congress-DMK alliance is nothing new. "Trouble between the Congress and its partners is nothing new. Earlier too, we have seen disagreements between the Congress and the DMK about ministry formation etc. it's upto them, they will sort it out. As far as we are concerned, we have already declared that we are part of combination which is out there to defeat the DMK-led alliance," Karat said.
Analysts say that the Congress deliberately pushed out the DMK so that the CBI has a free hand while probing the 2G spectrum scam. But the DMK is quick to dismiss this.
"These allegations are baseless. As an alliance partner, we never pleaded before the CBI that it should not perform its duty; the concerned minister has resigned and has been arrested. And as per the requisition of the Opposition, there is now the JPC... everything is there. Every alliance partner, whether its national or otherwise, has the discretion to ask for more. But we are confined to 60, we could not give more. And we are still saying that we are open for bargaining," DMK MP Vasanthi Stanley told NDTV on Sunday.
Congress sources say the party is not sweating over the situation just yet and the party leadership believes it can be salvaged. Sources say the brief for the Congress managers is to bury the hatchet and find a solution.
Much of the Congress' apparent sang froid seems to stem from a belief that the UPA is safe as no party wants general elections at this time.
After a high-level meeting on Saturday evening, the DMK said it would now only extend issue-based support to the UPA government. So saying, however, the party has left some doors open. Party spokesman TKS Elangovan said, "If Congress comes with a proposal we will think about it." And senior DMK leader TR Baalu made clear that this was about seat sharing alone and the two parties remained friends.
But at the DMK meeting, party chief M Karunanidhi said: "We are compelled to suspect that these are all the efforts by Congress to remove us from the UPA. Under these circumstances we have to think whether to continue in the government."
"In the circumstances, we have to think whether to continue in the Union government. So we have decided to relieve ourselves from the government," he added.
The two parties had held three rounds of discussions on seat-sharing for the April 13 Assembly elections this week, but there was little headway. The Congress made it clear that it wanted to contest many more seats than the 48 it had fought on in the last elections and, if the alliance came to power, wanted to be included in the government.
Earlier in the day, DMK chief Karunanidhi said he had offered 60 seats, but the 63 that the Congress wanted was unfair. In a statement in Chennai, he said, "Both parties had agreed that the Congress would get 51 seats. But the DMK offered 60 seats. Is it right to demand 63 seats? Is it fair for the Congress to decide on the constituencies it would contest?"
The Congress' demands and tough stand on seats seemed to come as the last straw in a marriage that has seen quite a bit of turbulence in the recent past. The DMK is already upset about its Central minister A Raja being sacked over the 2G scam, over CBI raids at Kalaignar TV, the channel owned by Karunanidhi's wife and the threat of his daughter Kanimozhi being questioned on 2G scam. (Watch: 2G probe against DMK triggered fallout, says Cho Ramaswamy)
The Congress has tackled the DMK's sulks successfully before, but with 18 seats in the Lok Sabha it is the UPA's second biggest ally and so cannot be taken lightly. This decision, if not reversed, would be a huge setback to the UPA government. (Read: Congress guarded on DMK pullout)
Tamil Nadu will vote on April 13, and the results will be declared on May 13 for the state's 234 seats. (Twitter Buzz)
The big question now is: Can the Congress still save the alliance?
Congress general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, along with Ahmed Patel, held consultations with state Congress leaders on Sunday. The final decision rests with Sonia Gandhi to salvage the situation.
As of now, nobody from the Congress has spoken to the DMK leadership, something that DMK supremo confirmed in the evening.
"No one from the Congress has approached us so far...A few parties are likely to join our alliance. It would be clear in a few days...Congress' demand for more seats is one of the reasons for our exit," Karunanidhi said. (Watch: More parties likely to join us, says Karunanidhi)
Sources say the DMK ministers will meet the Prime Minister on Monday at 11 am in Parliament to submit their resignation. (Watch: Congress putting undue pressure on us, says DMK Spokesperson) | (Watch: Friends with Congress, this is about seat-sharing, says Baalu)
Meanwhile, Karunanidhi's son and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, MK Alagiri, said the DMK decided to walk out of the alliance on their own.
"We walked out of the Congress led alliance ourselves. It will not affect the DMK's performance," said Alagiri.
"I will involve myself fully in election work now," he added.
How the numbers stack up:
In the 543-seat Lok Sabha, where the half-way mark is 272, Congress has 207 seats and along with other allies including 18 seats of DMK, UPA government has 274 seats - just 2 more than the half-way mark
The DMK has 18 seats and if it pulls out, that will leave UPA with 256 seats - way less than the half way mark.
The UPA will then have to look for some support and one of the parties that the Congress may approach is the Samajwadi Party which has 22 MPs. However, SP chief Mulayam Singh says, "Congress has neither approached us till now nor have we. But there is no threat to government at the Centre." (Watch: No threat to Govt at Centre, says Mulayam)
Meanwhile, CPM leader Prakash Karat said troubles within the Congress-DMK alliance is nothing new. "Trouble between the Congress and its partners is nothing new. Earlier too, we have seen disagreements between the Congress and the DMK about ministry formation etc. it's upto them, they will sort it out. As far as we are concerned, we have already declared that we are part of combination which is out there to defeat the DMK-led alliance," Karat said.
Analysts say that the Congress deliberately pushed out the DMK so that the CBI has a free hand while probing the 2G spectrum scam. But the DMK is quick to dismiss this.
"These allegations are baseless. As an alliance partner, we never pleaded before the CBI that it should not perform its duty; the concerned minister has resigned and has been arrested. And as per the requisition of the Opposition, there is now the JPC... everything is there. Every alliance partner, whether its national or otherwise, has the discretion to ask for more. But we are confined to 60, we could not give more. And we are still saying that we are open for bargaining," DMK MP Vasanthi Stanley told NDTV on Sunday.
Congress sources say the party is not sweating over the situation just yet and the party leadership believes it can be salvaged. Sources say the brief for the Congress managers is to bury the hatchet and find a solution.
Much of the Congress' apparent sang froid seems to stem from a belief that the UPA is safe as no party wants general elections at this time.
After a high-level meeting on Saturday evening, the DMK said it would now only extend issue-based support to the UPA government. So saying, however, the party has left some doors open. Party spokesman TKS Elangovan said, "If Congress comes with a proposal we will think about it." And senior DMK leader TR Baalu made clear that this was about seat sharing alone and the two parties remained friends.
But at the DMK meeting, party chief M Karunanidhi said: "We are compelled to suspect that these are all the efforts by Congress to remove us from the UPA. Under these circumstances we have to think whether to continue in the government."
"In the circumstances, we have to think whether to continue in the Union government. So we have decided to relieve ourselves from the government," he added.
The two parties had held three rounds of discussions on seat-sharing for the April 13 Assembly elections this week, but there was little headway. The Congress made it clear that it wanted to contest many more seats than the 48 it had fought on in the last elections and, if the alliance came to power, wanted to be included in the government.
Earlier in the day, DMK chief Karunanidhi said he had offered 60 seats, but the 63 that the Congress wanted was unfair. In a statement in Chennai, he said, "Both parties had agreed that the Congress would get 51 seats. But the DMK offered 60 seats. Is it right to demand 63 seats? Is it fair for the Congress to decide on the constituencies it would contest?"
The Congress' demands and tough stand on seats seemed to come as the last straw in a marriage that has seen quite a bit of turbulence in the recent past. The DMK is already upset about its Central minister A Raja being sacked over the 2G scam, over CBI raids at Kalaignar TV, the channel owned by Karunanidhi's wife and the threat of his daughter Kanimozhi being questioned on 2G scam. (Watch: 2G probe against DMK triggered fallout, says Cho Ramaswamy)
The Congress has tackled the DMK's sulks successfully before, but with 18 seats in the Lok Sabha it is the UPA's second biggest ally and so cannot be taken lightly. This decision, if not reversed, would be a huge setback to the UPA government. (Read: Congress guarded on DMK pullout)
Tamil Nadu will vote on April 13, and the results will be declared on May 13 for the state's 234 seats. (Twitter Buzz)
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