Chennai:
Just a month ahead of Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, the seven-year-old Congress-DMK alliance is teetering with the DMK deciding to pull 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)
After a high-level meeting on Saturday evening, the DMK also 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. (
Watch: Congress putting undue pressure on us, says DMK Spokesperson) | (
Watch: Friends with Congress, this is about seat-sharing, says Baalu)
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 DMK's announcement sent people on both sides of the political spectrum running to their calculators to see how the decision would affect numbers in the Lok Sabha, which is in session. (
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This is how the numbers stack up:
UPA - 272
Congress - 207
DMK - 18
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.
If there is no breakthrough by Monday, the DMK ministers are expected to call on the Prime Minister with their resignation letters.
Congress sources, however, 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. Congress leader in charge of Tamil Nadu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, is expected to leave for Chennai on Sunday morning. (
Read: Congress guarded on DMK pullout)
Much of the Congress' apparent sang froid seems to stems from a belief that the UPA is safe as no party wants general elections at this time.
Tamil Nadu will vote on April 13, and the results will be declared on May 13 for the state's 234 seats.