Tuesday, Apr 02, 2002
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Tamil Nadu
By V. Jayanth
During last year's elections to local bodies, the Congress put together a loose coalition, including the TMC, the Congress Jananayaka Peravai (CJP), the Makkal Tamizh Desam and the New Justice Party. This was considered a beginning of a `third front'. Now that some serious talk about the merger of the TMC with the Congress has begun with a meeting between the AICC Secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, and the TMC president, G. K. Vasan, there is a feeling that the exercise could mark the beginning too of a `coming together of all former Congressmen'. Asked for his reaction, Mr. Chidambaram said that ``at the national level, the Congress is the only alternative to the BJP and it is about time the country was given this alternative after all that has happened in recent weeks. Even if the Congress has some weaknesses, it is still a much better alternative to the BJP-led Government''. At the State level, ``I do not want to decry the two Dravidian parties. But the people are certainly looking for a viable alternative and it is the duty of the Congress to provide this. With or without merger, the TMC, the CJP and the Left parties should come together to present this alternative. Unless the Congress starts now, little can be achieved even in 2006''. While the AICC must show more interest in Tamil Nadu, it was disappointing that the TNCC leaders lacked ``ambition'' to bring the party back to power and glory. He would continue to build the CJP, but said it needed a formidable combine to take the message of a Congress-led alternative to the people in all villages in time for the next Assembly election. Sources in both the TMC and the CJP say the Congress must first set its house in order in Tamil Nadu and clearly spell out its objective. They do not want a repeat of the 1996 and 2001 fiasco— the TMC and the CJP were born as a result of an alliance forged by the Congress and the TMC respectively with the AIADMK. They want the Congress to come out with a statement of intent of forming the next government and rule out any alliance with the AIADMK or the DMK in future. Only then can the party cadres start working with a commitment. But they concede that there are elements in the Congress and the TMC who want a Dravidian alliance to ensure their own victory at the hustings. For instance, the sources say, had the Congress pressed ahead with the 1989 decision to steer clear of the DMK and AIADMK, the party could have captured power at least in 1996; had the TMC, which was founded in opposition to the AIADMK in 1996, stuck to its guns in 2001, an alternative could have emerged for 2006. There is a general consensus that the main hurdle to all groups and former Congressmen coming together will the problem of egos. Unless the AICC asserts itself and maintains discipline in the State unit, it will be difficult for any TNCC president to run the party effectively, leave alone uniting all factions. Unless the ``selfish leaders'' put the party above themselves, there can be no future here.
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