Rethink in TMC over decision to stay out of government

Who cooked G K Moopanar's goose? Was it the Left, local rival M Karunanidhi, or he himself?

While the Tamil Maanila Congress rank and file are frustrated and angry, they concede that Moopanar's Congress past, and suspicions that he knew Congress chief Sitaram Kesri was going to withdrawing support to the Deve Gowda government had made the Left distrust him.

Besides, there was Moopanar's odd 'dual membership' status, since he was both TMC president and Congress Rajya Sabha member simultaneously. It made Moopanar look almost like a Congress plant in the UF.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam sources are quick to refer to the situation last year when Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet had himself mooted Moopanar's name for the top job. Why did the same Surjeet oppose Moopanar's appointment now, they ask.

TMC sources claim the DMK's insincerity is to blame. They say Karunanidhi first set others against Moopanar and then supported Moopanar's candidature when he was sure it was too late to do anything, A prime minister from a rival party would had incapacitated the chief minister in a state that has a reputation for idol-worship. And things could have gone badly for the DMK if Moopanar manages what the legendary Kamaraj could not.

The TMC decision to stay out of the Gujral government has put it on par with the CPI-M and the Congress, where the TMC will be free to criticise the government from outside, without having to share any responsibility. The decision has also put the DMK in a spot since Karunanidhi is hard put to explain why he is not standing by a fellow Tamilian and an electoral ally. Party sources claim that no useful purpose would be served by the DMK boycotting the Gujral government.

Though one TMC worker set himself afire in despair, there has been little public reaction to Moopanar's loss, no talk outside party offices of loss of Tamil self-respect. And now the TMC is beginning to wonder if it isn't better to swallow the 'insult' rather than go unrepresented in the government. The TMC is also realising that keeping away from the government solely because Moopanar was not made prime minister would be churlish, especially since he was never promised the post.

It is clear, though, that the DMK-TMC tie-up will not be the same again. The TMC may now start highlighting public grievances though it had abstained from doing so earlier. It has also asked its MPs to fan out into the constituencies and gauge the public mood before deciding whether or not to rejoin the government.