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Moopanar rushes to Delhi, may
seek 'carte blanche' from Sonia

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Peeved at the Congress high command ignoring him and dispatching Pranab Muhkerjee for holding talks with the All India Anna DMK chief, J Jayalalitha, Tamil Manila Congress founder G K Moopanar may now demand a 'carte blanche' from Sonia Gandhi for deciding on the electoral formation in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Accompanied by former Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, Moopanar left for Delhi Friday morning.

While feigning continued loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family, Moopanar may decide on the TMC's future course, independent of the Congress, if it came to that.

While the compulsions of the Congress are based on the 'overall national interests' of the party vis a vis the Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance, the TMC's perception will be based on the 'risk factors' in Tamil Nadu, given the life-and-death battle ahead of the party.

Options are wide open before Moopanar, but any tie-up with the Congress would force him to distance himself from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Bharatiya Janata Party combine, unless the parent party itself opts for a 'maha-jot' in West Bengal.

Indications are that a major section of the Congress leadership in the state is willing to risk a Third Front under Moopanar, given the party's long-term interests. But the TMC may prefer to play it safe unless it is reassured that the Third Front would bag at least 30-40 seats in Tamil Nadu.

"It is a question of credibility for both the TMC and the Congress," says a senior TMC leader, referring to the Pattali Makkal Katchi's alliance with the AIADMK, and the party's continued support to the LTTE and other pan-Tamil militants.

PMK founder S Ramadoss has since reasserted his party's support and sympathies for the LTTE. "We have only the party's credibility and Moopanar's image, which we cannot afford to trade for short-term gains, by aligning with the AIADMK-PMK," the TMC leader says.

In this context, he also refers to the presence of another pro-LTTE outfit -- MDMK -- in the company of the DMK. "It is a double-negative thus for the DMK combine, given the 'communal' BJP presence," he adds.

That way, Congress leaders preferring a Third Front too focus on the 'credibility factor' involving Sonia Gandhi. "Already, we are on the defensive on her nationality issue and the like, and now it will be difficult for the party to defend itself across the country if we are seen as aligning with the supporters of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins, purely for electoral gains," says one of them.

Against this, however, some TMC leaders from the southern districts argue that the BJP-MDMK presence alone would help the party retain its lost electoral glory in their common stronghold. The DMK would also be willing to spare more seats than the AIADMK, they say.

"With the 'nationalist BJP votes' back in our kitty in whatever form, we could work towards the earlier 20-per cent vote-bank in the state that the united Congress had polled in the 1989 assembly elections."

Those favouring the AIADMK combine within the Congress and the TMC base their arguments on the 'BJP factor' and the 'anti-incumbency factor' affecting the DMK.

"While the presence of the BJP and the MDMK rules out the DMK combine, any division of the 'anti-incumbency votes' between the AIADMK alliance and a Third Front, could push the TMC into the abyss, from which it would be difficult for us to retrieve ourselves in the post-poll scenario," says one of them.

Simultaneously, a section of the TMC at least is perturbed by the reported indifference of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, towards any moves to join hands with the AIADMK. Chidambaram returned to Chennai from Delhi this morning, even as Moopanar left an hour earlier.

"That is the level of communication between the two leaders, but there is no denying a possible role for Chidambaram, if the party ultimately decides on a Third Front. It would then be for him to put forth an action plan and election manifesto, and take it across to the masses, given their regard for him as a former finance minister," said a leader.

Given the new-generation voters' apathy towards Dravidian parties, projecting the Moopanar-Chidambaram duo in the company of the Congress and newly-emerging caste parties projecting the economic problems facing their constituency, could work wonders for a Third Front.

Else Moopanar should be prepared to lose Chidambaram too, just as he lost another senior colleague in former Union Minister M Arunachalam, on the eve of the 1999 Lok Sabha polls," says a knowledgeable source.

ALSO SEE:
PMK joins AIADMK front
TN Congress leaders rush to Delhi
DMK allies hope for ministerial berths at Centre

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