Unfriendly Allies

The DMK and Samajwadi Party reaffirm their support to the Congress, but make it clear that all’s not well with the relationship

It is more than a mere coincidence. On the same day and in the same breath, though separately and for different reasons, two crucial allies of the Congress—the DMK and Samajwadi Party—renewed their commitment to the UPA, while at the same time giving strong signals that, henceforth, they would be more enemies of the grand old party than its supporters.

With these twin commitments of friendship and enmity, delivered on 24 July by DMK Chief Karunanidhi at Coimbatore and Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh Yadav at Delhi, the UPA Government appears to have entered a period in which the two key regional ‘allies’ could be even more unpredictable and dangerous than usual.

At Coimbatore, after the DMK’s general council meet, Karunanidhi reiterated his party’s support to the UPA Government while at the same time backing social activist Anna Hazare’s demand that the Prime Minister should be brought under the purview of the proposed Lokpal— a demand that is being opposed tooth and nail by the Congress. Obviously, the Tamil patriarch is no longer in a mood to behave in a manner the Congress would have liked him to do.

That the DMK indeed has it in for the Congress became obvious merely a day after the Coimbatore announcement when former Telecom Minister A Raja pushed the Congress into its biggest crisis in years by dragging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, into the 2G mess. In his submission before the CBI court, Raja alleged that the Prime Minister and former Finance Minister were aware of two Indian companies, which had obtained licences very cheaply, selling equity stakes at a fat premium to foreign investors. “The Finance Minister approved the sale in the presence of the PM. Let the Prime Minister deny it,” he told the court, implying thereby that if he is guilty, so are the Prime Minister and former Finance Minister.

Raja’s statement has forced the Congress, which has desperately been trying to keep the 2G scam DMK-centric, to run for cover at a time when the entire political class is gearing up for the monsoon session of Parliament. The court will decide whether Raja’s allegations have any legal implications or not, but the image of the Congress has already started getting tarnished despite Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal working overtime to rubbish the allegations.

Whatever the outcome, Karunanidhi seems to have started making careful political moves that are obviously aimed not at strengthening the UPA, but instead at harming it. In fact, at the DMK’s general council, when some party leaders demanded snapping ties with the Congress, Karunanidhi had reportedly said, “In the current political situation, I agree we have to take a decision whether to be with the Congress or not. On one hand, they are saying their alliance with us is strong, and on the other, they are arresting our leaders and forcing our ministers to resign. My daughter has been arrested. We cannot go beyond a limit. We have to maintain our position. We have to be smart.”

Indeed, smart is the catchword for the hidden punches that Karunanidhi has directed at the Congress in quick succession. The newfound mantra of the Dravidian party seems to involve calculated dealings with the UPA, instead of a knee-jerk emotional departure that might leave the DMK even more vulnerable. Thus, instead of pulling out from the UPA government at a time when his own party is facing an acute crisis in Tamil Nadu, he has preferred to remain within the ruling coalition at the Centre while ensuring that the going gets tougher for the Congress.

With 18 members of the Lok Sabha, the DMK is the third largest constituent of the UPA after the Congress and Trinamool Congress. While the Congress has 207 MPs, the Trinamool has 19 members in the Lok Sabha. Without the DMK, the strength of the UPA comes down to 242 from 260. The magic number of a simple majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha is 272. The Congress-led coalition has a cushion available in the form of several parties like the SP (22 MPs) and Bahujan Samaj Party (21 MPs), which provide outside support. There are some smaller parties, too, in the queue, but they won’t be able to keep the UPA afloat if the Congress’ relationships with the DMK, SP and BSP worsen. As the Congress has already launched an open war against the BSP in UP—a crucial state that comes in the way of Rahul Gandhi’s march to Delhi—the SP remains the only party that has enough numbers to bail out the UPA in case the DMK decides to go for the kill at any point of time.

On its part, the SP has allowed itself to be used by the Congress whenever the latter has required its help since the time Mulayam broke away from the ‘Third Front’ to save the UPA Government in August 2008 after the Left parties withdrew support over the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. But the day Karunanidhi signalled that he would no longer take it lying down, Mulayam, too, was seen singing a different tune, though for different reasons.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi on 24 July, the SP leader launched a broadside against the Congress for adopting ‘anti-Muslim policies’ while reiterating his party’s resolve to continue offering outside support to the UPA—with the sole objective of keeping the BJP out of power. Not only did Mulayam—aware of the moves by Rahul Gandhi and his party to lure away the SP’s Muslim vote base ahead of the UP polls in 2012—call the BJP a “lesser evil” for Muslims than the Congress, he also demanded the arrest of the Mumbai cops involved in the interrogation of Faiz Usmani, who died in custody after being picked up for questioning over 13 July’s Mumbai serial blasts. “Whenever the BJP has ruled, Muslims have not been exploited… In spite of a couple of communal riots, their exploitation has been less.”

This, obviously, is not the same old Mulayam, happy to rush to the UPA’s aid. If anything, his latest remarks mean that the Congress can no longer take the SP’s support for granted. The only way the Congress can get back the old, pliable Mulayam is by hugging him for the UP Assembly polls—a prospect that is likely to jeopardise Rahul Gandhi’s project in the crucial state.

The contradictions are too many, and they have cropped up even as the Congress is left with a bag full of crises to handle. Mulayam’s belligerence at a time when Karunanidhi has decided to be tough with the Congress, which in turn has already issued a war cry against the BSP, may well turn into an unmanageable morass of political contradictions that the UPA-II will find hard to scramble out of.

About The Author

Dhirendra K Jha