Congressmen in Tamil Nadu unwilling to align with TMC

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Congressmen in Tamil Nadu are in a quandary. They do not want to side with G K Moopanar and his Tamil Maanila Congress as Sitaram Kesri would like them to. But they have no political alternative to offer.

While political pragmatism dictates that the Congress in the state has a future only if it aligns with another party, there is no ally in sight. Kesri would like the party to align with the TMC, but Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu have a problem accepting this proposition.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has no use for the Congress, nor can the party decide on anything remotely connected with it until its ally, the TMC, makes up its mind on its long-term strategy.

The AIADMK has become an untouchable for the Congress leadership after last year's assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The Pattali Makkal Kachi, which a section of the state Congress were wooing before the general election, is back on a pro-LTTE perch.

With the TMC uninterested in merging with the parent organisation, the option would be for the two parties to work together in future elections. Given the common ideological framework, such an alliance seems workable.

But most Congress leaders, whatever their declining support base, perceive Moopanar as a threat to such an arrangement. Moopanar, they point out, has always been on one side of the splits in the Tamil Nadu Congress unit after K Kamaraj's death in 1976. Most Congress leaders, barring a few like Tindivanam Ramamurthy, cannot work with Moopanar. Even in the days when he was a trusted aide of Indira Gandhi, they had problems working with him.

Nor can these Congress chieflings work under the evolving TMC leadership at the district-level or even at the state-level. For these leaders to accept the changed circumstances and work as junior partners in any coalition will generate new tensions which the TMC leadership feels it can do without.

For their part, Congressmen in the state are expected to regain their say in party affairs with the upcoming organisational elections. Proportional representation in the All India Congress Committee is based on the population of the state, not the party's political influence or electoral successes. Hence, Tamil Nadu will command a higher number of AICC delegates than neighbouring Karnataka and Kerala, where the party still has a lot of electoral say left.

This means that AICC delegates from Tamil Nadu will play a crucial role in the election of the party president, which process has to be completed before the May 31deadline set by the Election Commission. This, they can use as leverage to get what they want in political terms in the state, but they have no proposals to offer any future party president. Nor are they known to stand united is espousing any cause, least of all, something as important and as common as an electoral alliance for the future.