Congress Party : Learning to be a Minor Player

The conundrum that was Tamil Nadu politics after the PMK's sudden announcement of its alliance with the AIADMK early last month seems to have finally been resolved, adding in the process a new expression to Indian political lexicon, 'alliance delink'. Ending weeks of speculation and accusations of ambivalence and indecision levelled at him, Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) leader and ex-Congressman G K Moopanar announced this week that an electoral understanding had been reached between the TMC-Congress and the AIADMK-PMK. With this the battle lines for the assembly elections next month have been drawn.

On its own the Congress would have been wiped out in Tamil Nadu. Hence for reasons of sheer political survival it was imperative that the party junked its Pachamarhi resolution against alliances and reached an understanding with the AIADMK-PMK. For the TMC as well these elections are a matter of survival. From the heady days of 1996, the TMC is now in a state of disarray, its vote-bank having been eroded by the dalit parties, PT and the DPI, which have since joined the DMK-led front. But for both the TMC and the Congress, the PMK is a red rag, mainly because the vanniyars are traditionally seen as anti-dalit. The PMK's open sympathy for the LTTE is also a source of embarrassment for the Congress. At the same time, the option of a third front was ruled out by Moopanar's ill-health and his conviction that a three-way division of votes would wipe out the TMC which has 37 seats in the present assembly.