The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : MDMK's departure takes centre stage at DMK meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 07, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

MDMK's departure takes centre stage at DMK meet

R.K. Radhakrishnan

NEWSANALYSIS While not mentioning Vaiko's exit, the party assessed the damage The DMK's ninth State Conference was an opportunity for the party to kick-start its election campaign with a massive show of strength

CHENNAI: Leaders of the Democratic Progressive Alliance partners who addressed the ninth State conference of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at Tiruchi made it clear that their aim was two-fold: free the State from All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rule and make DMK chief M. Karunanidhi the Chief Minister.

The DMK could not have timed it better. The Election Commission's announcement of the poll schedule had just come in and the party-led combine was first off the block, kick-starting its campaign with a massive show of strength.

But the event that held the centre stage — departure of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam — was not mentioned directly by any of the leaders. But while deciding to ignore the event, the DMK and its alliance partners assessed the damage, taking advantage of the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

It appeared that the unusually large turnout of party workers was possibly meant to convey to their leader that regardless of the MDMK's exit, they would strive hard for victory in the elections.

While cadre turnout was impressive in almost all DMK zonal conferences in the past two years, the numbers that stayed on at the venue throughout the sessions left much to be desired. In the past few conferences, the attendance on day one was so poor that senior DMK leaders had to admonish the cadres for going sight-seeing instead of staying at the conference venue. This time, they stayed put.

It is no secret that MDMK general secretary Vaiko has many sympathisers and fans in the DMK. This was reflected by the enthusiastic response he received each time he addressed them — from the Virudhunagar DMK conference ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to the Vellore conference.

All that changed when they heard on the morning of March 4 that Mr. Vaiko had crossed over to the AIADMK camp. Volunteers huddled together in groups outside the venue and on roads indulged in their own forms of protest. While some abused him verbally, others pulled down his cut-out at the venue. Some distance away, a group burnt him in effigy. A few others debated the impact of the MDMK's departure. At least some concluded that it was a big loss to the MDMK.

DMK principal secretary Durai Murugan, a long-time associate of Mr. Vaiko, summed up their sentiments: "I do not think they would have been this upset if he had left the alliance and contested on his own as he did in 2001. But this act of crossing over, I think, is seen as betrayal by the cadres. I am sure this has strengthened their resolve to work harder."

A day before the formal announcement of the MDMK's departure, Mr. Karunanidhi observed, in response to a question: "There cannot be any ideology in numbers [of seats given to a party]."

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