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Friday, May 22, 2009
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Congress-DMK talks break down

New Delhi Bureau

Congress reluctance to part with infrastructure ministries a hitch

— Photo: PTI

OUTSIDE SUPPORT: DMK leader T.R. Baalu addresses the media in New Delhi on Thursday, after the breakdown of talks with the Congress. He said the DMK would offer outside support to the Manmohan Singh government.

NEW DELHI: Although the swearing-in ceremony of the new Manmohan Singh-led government is scheduled for Friday evening, the berth-sharing talks between the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) broke down dramatically on Thursday evening.

However, efforts were on till late in the night to salvage the alliance, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi stepping in and speaking to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. A major irritant is the Congress refusal to part with infrastructure ministries and instead offering the DMK portfolios of Labour, Food Processing and Textiles.

The southern ally declared it would extend “outside support” to the new government, preferring to sit out of the Ministry to accepting the same number of berths it had last time. The announcement came after three rounds of talks between leaders of the two parties and a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr. Karunanidhi.

Announcing the breakdown of talks, DMK leader T.R. Baalu said the Congress formula was unacceptable to his party. Refusing to divulge details of what transpired between Dr. Singh and Mr. Karunanidhi, he said the DMK executive council would meet in Chennai on Friday to decide the future course of action.

The Congress remained outwardly unfazed by the DMK decision. The Congress media in-charge, Janardan Dwivedi, told journalists talks would continue. “We had proposed status quo; they wanted more. We felt their demands were too much. This does not mean the dialogue has stopped. They are still our allies.” The Congress confidence is anchored in the fact that though negotiations over portfolio allocation had broken down similarly in 2004 also, an agreement was reached later. The Congress is sure the DMK will not withdraw support in a hurry because the Karunanidhi-led government is dependent on it.

The DMK wanted five Cabinet berths to accommodate the two outgoing Union Ministers, A. Raja and Mr. Baalu, besides Mr. Karunanidhi’s two children, M.K. Azhagiri and Kanimozhi, and his grand-nephew Dayanidhi Maran. Also, the DMK wanted four Ministers of State.

Crowding the Ministry with members of one family was unacceptable to the Congress and this is an issue that it has taken up with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also. The NCP was hoping to get its president Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule into the Ministry.

The NCP leadership of Mr. Pawar and Praful Patel held detailed discussions with the Congress triumvirate of Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel but neither side disclosed details.

The Congress negotiators had another round of negotiations with a new ally, the Trinamool Congress. Though Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee denied bargaining over ministerial berths and portfolios, she is learnt to have got a Cabinet perch at Railways for herself, besides a handful of ministries for her party. Ms. Banerjee avoided a direct reply to a question whether she wanted President’s Rule in West Bengal. Neither was the Congress willing to reveal her demands.

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Corrections and Clarifications

(The sixth paragraph of the lead story "Congress-DMK talks break down" (May 22, 2009, page 1) was "The DMK wanted five Cabinet berths to accommodate the two outgoing Union Ministers, Dayanidhi Maran (Mr. Karunanidhi's grand nephew) and Mr. Baalu, besides Mr. Karunanidhi's two children, M. Azhagiri and M. Kanimozhi." It should have been Mr. Raja and Mr. Baalu. (The error was in the early editions.))

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