The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Will DMK front make political demands on the Centre?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 15, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Will DMK front make political demands on the Centre?

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, MAY 14. The calculations of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have all gone wrong. Even if the ruling party knew it would not do very well in the Lok Sabha poll, it might not have expected the Congress to be in a position to lead a new coalition at the Centre. Similarly, though the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) knew that its alliance was bound to do well, it might not have expected its former ally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to lose power. The arch Dravidian rivals are now busy reworking their strategies.

Projecting the BJP leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as the best bet for Prime Ministership, the AIADMK chief, Jayalalithaa, hoped to forge a new partnership with the Centre and pursue her goal of making Tamil Nadu number one State. In the bargain, she could also put the DMK in its place and undo what she considered the damage the DMK Ministers in the previous Central Government did to the State's interests. Some of those plans may run into rough weather now.

On top of Ms. Jayalalithaa's priorities was building a new Secretariat complex at Kotturpuram here. With the Madras High Court clearing the legal hurdles, the government has already called for tenders to go ahead with the Rs. 400 plus-crore project. A schedule for shifting some of the institutions on the Anna University-Highways Research Station campus was also drawn up and this exercise is expected to be completed between May 15 and 25.

As the then Environment Minister, T.R. Baalu of the DMK virtually halted the Secretariat project, issuing a notification through his Ministry, requiring prior clearance for such mega schemes. It remains to be seen how the DMK will deal with this issue if it returns to the Union Cabinet.

Another of Tamil Nadu's problems relates to release of Cauvery water by Karnataka. The chairpersonship of the Cauvery River Authority will pass on to the new Prime Minister. It is too early to determine what the Congress approach will be if Sonia Gandhi takes over the reins. Given the complexity of government formation and the fractured verdict in Karnataka itself, it should take some time to come to grips with this major inter-State dispute.

The DMK and its allies will want to take up with the new regime quite a few issues. The Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi have already demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, following the whitewash in the election. They are likely to step up the demand for dismissal, invoking Article 356. That will be a very complicated issue. Given the recent trends in Parliament, it is not easy to dismiss State Governments or use Article 356 without a broad political consensus.

But the primary demand from the entire front will be for repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). This is the basic demand the DPA will advance before any of its constituents joins the Cabinet. As the Congress and Left parties too have taken a strong stance against the POTA, DMK sources foresee no major problem in throwing the legislation out ``lock, stock and barrel.''

Another issue the DMK has been concerned about relates to the wealth cases against Ms. Jayalalithaa. These have been transferred to a special court being set up in Karnataka. Though it is entirely a judicial process, the DMK will be watching the developments in Bangalore closely.

Without making them appear demands or pre-conditions, Mr. Karunanidhi is expected to discuss some of these issues during his meeting with Ms. Gandhi. Perhaps, based on the outcome of the discussions, he will agree to join the government.

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