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Karunanidhi awaits TMC response

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ruling DMK supremo M Karunanidhi has revived the party's invitation to the Tamil Maanila Congress, to rejoin the combine for the assembly elections, even as TMC founder G K Moopanar began consultations with party cadres in Madras on Monday.

"It is now for the TMC to respond to our invitation," Karunanidhi told newsmen in Madurai, recalling his public call to Moopanar, followed by efforts of Speaker P T R Palanivel Rajan.

On her part, AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha applied pressure, with live-in confidante Sasikala Natarajan seeking the blessings of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, for releasing the first list of party nominees on Tuesday.

Karunanidhi's choice of venue was interesting, as much as its timing.

With the TMC executive meeting in full strength, to analyse poll options, he was seeking to address the party cadres, directly, and provide Moopanar with a greater option. Given its commitment to the PMK, and also the insistence on single-party rule, the AIADMK may not be able to offer as many seats to the TMC and its possible allies as the DMK, which is also under greater compulsion to find new partners, to try and win elections in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Likewise, the choice of Madurai for Karunanidhi's announcement is also significant.

The TMC has its strongholds in southern districts, of which Madurai is the de facto headquarters. Even in the post-MGR 1989 assembly elections that the unified Congress contested on its own, 17 of the party's 28 legislators came from the southern districts.

Karunanidhi was seeking to address the TMC leaders, from southern districts, who find their votes of 1989 divided among the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress parent, as well, with a section of the Telugu-speaking voters in the region looking up to the MDMK, too.

The BJP and MDMK are now in the DMK-led NDA, and by inviting the TMC into its fold, Karunanidhi is seeking to offset the traditional stronghold of the AIADMK, which has been equally strong in the region ever since the party's formation.

The DMK's strategy is to use the BJP, MDMK and TMC, along with residual DMK votes to upset the AIADMK in the south, and use their residual votes in return, to gain over the AIADMK-PMK combine in the north and north-west, where it shares a traditional base with the PMK.

Moopanar is in no hurry to announce his decision. As a senior party leader pointed out, "We are still assessing the party's mood vis-a-vis the available options, including a Third Front. Indications are that at least the second-line leadership seems to prefer the AIADMK combine, but a clearer picture will emerge in the next few days."

Moopanar said as much when he spoke to newsmen just after flagging off discussions, attended by nearly 1000 leaders, down to the panchayat level. "It is a time-consuming process and may take two or three days. I am unable to oblige you by announcing a decision today," he told newsmen, eager for his decision. Indications are that Moopanar may buy as much time as he can - going up to a week or a fortnight - before crystallising his decision.

That Moopanar is caught in a hot-bed of competitive weaning by the two Dravidian majors became known when Jayalalitha despatched Natarajan, reportedly with the first list of AIADMK nominees to Kancheepuram. Sasikala spent some time with the Kanchi seer, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, seeking his blessings before releasing the party's first list.

Indications are that Jayalalitha will announce her first list by Wednesday, if only to exert pressure on the TMC to take an early decision.

"This attitude is what we resent," says a TMC leader. "Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha are addressing us. While the former publicly addressed the party, Jayalalitha is seeking to pressure us into submission. Coming as it does after her admitting the PMK into the secular front without prior consultations, it can give a broad hint to the AIADMK's unchanged attitudinal problems."

Against this, however, the TMC is facing a difficult situation in backing the DMK combine, of which a 'communal BJP' is still a part. Fresh from his Delhi visit, where he got authorisation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to negotiate too, Moopanar may now find it all the more difficult to side with the DMK. "However, all our options are still open," said the TMC source.

"We are enjoying the importance being attached to our decision," he added.

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