CorporateImportance of Raja for DMK can lead to more tension in UPA
Why is Tamil Nadu politician, DMK leader and MP from Perambalur, A Raja, the DMK’s man for all seasons?
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What is being avidly discussed in the corridors of Sanchar Bhavan, the telecom ministry headquarters, was also the topic for discussion nearly a year earlier among the readers of Dinakaran, a Tamil newspaper. At the time, Dayanidhi Maran, who owns the newspaper, had just been asked to leave the ministry by party chief M Karunanidhi.
The prime minister had complied and Raja was the replacement asked for by party supremo Karunandhi. Those in the know note that Raja is a substantial figure in the responsibility of ensuring the DMK is equipped to take on its various operational requirements. The complicated kinship-power equations in the DMK endured the Lok Sabha elections in 2009; there is much jockeying for influence in the party among various powerful factions, given supremo Karunanidhi’s age and state of health.
When the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was formed, Karunanidhi’s daughter and MP, Kanimozhi, opted to stay out of the government but pressed that Raja be retained. Raja is a trained lawyer, a Dalit, a poet, and was a protégé of the late Murasoli Maran, father of Dayanidhi, and one of the most important leaders in the party. After he passed on, Raja had allied with the faction associated with Kanimozhi (and her mother), an important one. With his other responsibilities, this makes him a substantial player, whose importance may not necessarily be reflected in his government pecking order.
After Maran fell out of grace, allegations were printed in Dinakaran about Raja and his personal life, but this campaign ceased when the unnamed heir to the DMK’s political empire, M K Stalin, smoothened Maran’s path to return to the family bosom.
While there is no official response from the DMK over the CBI action and case registered against Raja’s ministry under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has announced that he would sit on a fast in Madurai on November 1 to protest against Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh’s green signal on a dam in Kerala (Mullaperiyar) that would allegedly prevent water from flowing to Tamil Nadu.
Today’s action and Karunanidhi’s move suggests that tensions have begun developing between the DMK and the Congress in the UPA. The two parties are allies in Tamil Nadu, and the DMK government could fall if the Congress withdraws support. In the 235-member House, the DMK has 98 MLAs and the Congress 36. A minimum of 118 MLAs are needed for simple majority. Fifteen Left MLAs, who were till recently with the opposition AIADMK, have now withdrawn from that alliance.
Assembly elections are due in Tamil Nadu in 2011.