Karunanidhi battered in Bihar battle, lies low

The United Front row over former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav may have blown over. But with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi going back on everything he stood for on the Bihar front, the RJD issue has left deep scars within the DMK.

Disgruntled DMK elements seem to be raising their ugly head again, forcing the chief minister to shelve his dynastic ambition: Bringing his son M K Stalin into the party hierarchy.

''We got involved where we had no role to play,'' said a DMK leader in private. ''It was purely a fight for the Janata Dal leadership, and for supremacy in Bihar politics. Though the Rashtriya Janata Party could be used to strengthen the ranks of regional parties within the United Front, there was no need for us to come out with an unexpected threat to quit the Gujral government.''

What is more shocking for the cadres is that no senior party leader was consulted before the ''threat'' was issued. ''At the recent general council meeting, Karunanidhi said the decision was taken in consultation with party general secretary K Anbazhagan. However, it is anybody's guess how far the latter was involved in the discussions,'' a DMK leader said. The decision was reportedly was taken by Karunanidhi and Union Industry Minister Murasoli Maran.

As a result, none took Karunanidhi's statement last week, when he was re-elected DMK president, that the ''resignation threat'' had proved to be a ''shock treatment'' for the Front.

Coming as it did in the aftermath of the ''Moopanar episode'', wherein the DMK was portrayed as stabbing the Tamil Maanila Congress founder in the back in the prime ministerial race, ''the party's image has suffered''.

Adding to the party's woes were the allegations regarding its organisational polls. No doubt Karunanidhi was unanimously re-elected president along with Anbazhagan as general secretary and trusted aide 'Arcot' N Veeraswamy as treasurer. But the election was not as smooth at the lower levels, thanks to the alleged interference by top party leaders. Violent clashes also reportedly broke out.

So intense was the lobbying that the district poll results had to be announced through DMK newspaper Murasoli at Madras, giving a go-by to the usual announcements made by the local returning officers, party sources said.

The fact that quite a few leaders were unhappy with the results is indicated by an unsuccessful candidate's reaction. Sampath who contested for the Villupuram DMK secretary's post, resorted to a rasta roko agitation along with his supporters outside the party's headquarters at Madras.

His charge: the returning officer openly backed state Transport Minister K Ponmudi, the other contestant, who was declared elected. Incidentally, Ponmudi is a known loyalist of Stalin who is also Madras mayor.

''Why is Stalin so desperate to pack the district committees with his men when the succession issue has been settled in his favour?'' asks a DMK veteran. ''It is a foregone conclusion that Stalin will succeed Karunanidhi, especially so because rebel leader V Gopalswami was forced to leave the party a couple of years back. As a result, all DMK men are now Stalin loyalists. Finding new ways of dividing them only creates trouble for the party.''

Sensing this, Karunanidhi lost no time in appointing Revenue Minister 'Nanjil' K Manoharan as the deputy general secretary, a post the latter held all along. Earlier, Karunanidhi dropped hints that Manoharn's health did not permit him to take up such a responsibility.

''The idea obviously was to make Stalin the deputy general secretary after letting Manoharan retire on health grounds. That has not come through. Now it remains to be seen whether another post of deputy general secretary would be created, or Stalin would be given some other ornamental post in the mainline party,'' said the source.

Stalin, who is now abroad, is at present chief of the DMK's youth wing. With his elevation taken for granted, some leaders are being considered to succeed Stalin as the youth wing chief. A few ministerial changes are also being contemplated. But all these may have to wait for at least a fortnight, when Karunanidhi could shrug off the present discomfort, and move on with the proposed changes with his usual confidence.