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The Rediff Interview/M Arunachalam

'As for the TMC supporting a government in which the AIADMK is a part, our support is only to the Congress leadership'

Eyebrows were raised when Tamil Maanila Congress founder G K Moopanar declared recently, that his party would support a Congress government at the Centre, from outside. Though the TMC, with only three MPs in the Lok Sabha, does not have the bargaining power of the United Front days, Moopanar's statement in the days immediately following the assembly poll results, was a discernible departure from the past.

True, both Moopanar and his TMC have been reiterating their support for the Congress at the Centre almost since inception. As a party with a 'Congress tradition' and traditional Congress vote bank in Tamil Nadu, it has also ignored the Bharatiya Janata Party's overtures in the past. What thus made the difference this time was the TMC leaving the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham alone.

Moopanar and other TMC leaders are not tired of reiterating their continued antagonism to the AIADMK. They have also been reiterating their commitment to usher in 'Kamaraj rule' in the state in 2001, when an assembly election is due. The party is now an ally of the ruling DMK, but cadre-level relations are far from satisfactory.

All these make Moopanar's 'support-from-outside' offer more loaded than meets the eye. Former Union minister and TMC political affairs committee member M Arunachalam seeks to clarify a few points in this interview with N Sathiya Moorthy at Madras.

What are your comments on the assembly election results?

We had predicted a Congress victory, and we are happy for the party.

But the state Congress seems to be opposed to the TMC.

We say the TMC is the 'real Congress' in Tamil Nadu. But at the national-level, we are against the 'communal' BJP. And as traditional Congressmen, we are all for the Congress returning to power at the Centre.

Is it why you have been offering support to the Congress?

Yes. We also have little option at the national-level, once we rule out the BJP on principles.

But there is a difference this time. Moopanar says you will support a Congress government from outside...

Yes, we will not be participating in the government.

But will that offer hold good even if the AIADMK were to form part of that government, or were to support it from outside?

We cannot stop anyone from supporting a government that we too support. As far as the TMC supporting a government in which the AIADMK is a part, our support is only to the Congress leadership.

But that will be a contradiction...

Where is the contradiction? We are opposed to the AIADMK, not to the Congress, and the Congress will have its prime minister.

Yet...

The political situation of the past few years has thrown up curious situations. Take the Left. They are opposed to the Congress in Kerala and West Bengal, but are yet willing to support the party at the Centre. They are more eager than the Congress itself, about the latter forming a government. Such contradictions exist even in the BJP-led ruling coalition.

Even a couple of months back, Moopanar and others in your party were referring to the 'birth by fire' of the TMC, and its congenital opposition to the AIADMK...

Yes, we stand by that. There is no change in that position.

But how can you oppose a party in the state while supporting a government of which it's a partner at the Centre?

Our support will only be to the government, and the Congress leader. Not to individual parties in it.

Will your cadres accept it?

Say, what are our options once we decide to back the Congress at the national-level, and want the 'communal' BJP-led government to go? But what we are discussing is only one option before the Congress, and it's for that party to decide.

Will it not go against the TMC's call for 'Kamaraj rule' by the next assembly election?

That will still be our goal.

Will that remain only a goal?

We have over two years for the assembly election. Anything can happen between now and then...

Like a TMC alliance with the AIADMK?

No, that's out of the question. We are clear about wanting to form a government of our own in the state, and the situation may evolve towards that.

But will not your moving closer to the AIADMK, albeit a Congress-led government, hurt your ties with the DMK?

We are not moving closer to the AIADMK, and we have always been saying that we will support the Congress at the national level. Hence the DMK need have no fears on that count. Our alliance continues.

Again a contradiction, the DMK alliance and the 'Kamaraj rule'. How can the two go together?

Wait and see.

EARLIER REPORT:
No viable alternative to BJP government, says Moopanar

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