On Sunday, the Congress headquarters in Chennai looked as deserted as any other office would look on a weekend. There were a few party workers around along with a few cops, to keep them company.
On Saturday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers had pulled out from the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The DMK had also issued an ultimatum that they were willing to give the Congress 60 seats in the forthcoming assembly elections. If the Congress were to accept this offer then the DMK ministers would withdraw their resignations. If this offer was not accepted the DMK would prefer to give the Congress issue-based support in Parliament.
The Congress cadre at the party headquarters said that all the party leaders were in Delhi and the decision would be taken there.
One lawyer Kaliyaperumal who has been in the Congress for decades said that there were still three options that they were considering, one was to go with the DMK's offer, the other was to have an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by Jayalalitha. The third and best option was to go it alone in the forthcoming elections. He felt that if they went alone at least they would know the real strength of the Congress in the state.
A former MLA felt that the Congress could not go back to the DMK and still retain their self-respect. They should go with the AIADMK and or fight the elections on their own.
Most of the party cadre felt that they should go alone. "What was the point of supporting the DMK's minority government for the past five years? We did not get anything. The DMK keeps all posts for themselves even at the panchayat level" said one party worker.
Another party worker said, "We cannot get even a peon a job, for that too we have to go to the DMK workers for a recommendation letter."
A third worker lamented that if there
was a dispute the cops never listened to them. "We have to go the DMK district president, or ward worker to intercede on our behalf, no one listens to us".
The main grouse of the party workers was not the number of seats that the DMK was willing to give, they wanted a share in the power. "If they can share power with us at the Center and have so many ministers there why can't we have Congress ministers in Tamil Nadu" they said.
"You can see what they bring back from Delhi as ministers, don't you think we should get a chance here" another worker wanted to know.
Most of the workers were sure that the party cadre would not work in this election if they had a tie up with the DMK without a share in power, if they won. "What is the point in working for victory, if after we win, they get all the power and we get nothing" was the common lament.
"Only the 36-odd MLAs who won last time on the Congress ticket in the last elections want to continue with the alliance. None of the others are interested" said a senior cadre.
At the Congress headquarters no one mentioned the 2G scam or the threat that the CBI would question the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Amma or daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi.
All they wanted to know was if they could get a share in power, if they would really be an active part of the ruling alliance. The Congress are desperate to rule Tamil Nadu which has not seen them in power since 1967.
The Congress high command has always been more interested in how many MPs they can get from Tamil Nadu to help them form the government at the Center. They have always ignored the state's politics. This decision has totally alienated their cadre.
While some workers were saying that Pranab Mikherjee would come on Sunday evening to settle the alliance, others said that no leader from Delhi would come.