With the clamour for creating smaller States getting shriller, Tamil Nadu’s politicians will try to stir the pot

The repercussions of the move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemandhra have been felt across the country. Demands are pouring from different States for carving out more small States from the existing monolith entities like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and even Gujarat. So, can Tamil Nadu politicians afford to sit back and relax when their counterparts clamour for creating small StatesIJ

leader of the Vanniyar-dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi, S Ramadoss, has already made it known that he wants Tamil Nadu to be bifurcated. The doctor from Tindivanam knows very well that the possibility of a Vanniyar taking oath of office as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is bleak in the present scenario. Since northern Tamil Nadu has a considerable Vanniyar population, its division could work to his advantage. Anbarasu, a former Congress MP, who has some following in the party, too has demanded that Tamil Nadu be sliced in two. Another political outfit by the name Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam has demanded the formation of a separate State incorporating the south western region of Tamil Nadu.

As on date, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa and the nonagenarian DMK supremo M Karunanidhi call the shots in the State. Ms Jayalalithaa is totally against the bifurcation of Tamil Nadu. And she has no preference for any particular caste or religion in this Dravidian land, though she herself is a Kannada Iyengar and a very religious person. Equally important is the fact that she has no vested interest in any person either in the party or in her family.

But Mr Karunanidhi's case is different. He has to take care of the interests of four families. His children by first wife Padmavathi have been unsuccessful in politics. The Kalaignar (as he is affectionately called) has four children through Dayalu Ammal, his second wife. Of the four, elder son MK Alagiri and second son MK Stalin are engaged in a war of nerves for the control of the DMK, which has become a kind of family concern. Insiders say that his daughter Selvi too has some political ambitions. In fact, Mr Karunanidhi entrusted Ms Selvi with the responsibility of his election campaign at Thiruvarur from where he contested the 2011 Assembly election. It was she who through her house-to-house campaign ensured Mr Karunanidhi's victory despite the strong AIADMK wave. Tamil Arasu, Karunanidhi's youngest son, born through his union with Dayalu Ammal, is managing the clan's real estate business enterprises.

However, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, the DMK chief's daughter from his third wife, is his favourite. His love for Kanimozhi is so deep that the DMK chief had no qualms in approaching the Congress, pleading it to cast its votes in favour of Ms Kanimozhi during the June 27 election to Rajya Sabha.

But what stresses the DMK chief is the fight between sons Alagiri and Stalin. Both of them want to be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. During his 2006 -2011 tenure, Mr Karunanidhi balanced the family dynamics by dispatching Mr Alagiri to New Delhi as a Union Cabinet Minister to make life easy for Mr Stalin in Chennai. He has also made it known that Mr Stalin is his chosen heir and would succeed him as party chief. But each time he announces that Mr Stalin would be his successor, the elder son snubs his father by reminding him that the DMK is not a ‘Hindu Mutt’ where the pontiff unilaterally anoints his successor. This infuriates the veteran leader who sees red whenever the word ‘Hindu’ is brought into a discourse.

Some family insiders say that Mr Karunanidhi has found a new strategy to sort out the differences between his warring sons, and may demand the bifurcation of Tamil Nadu. The State which has a population of 72.14 million, spread across 1,30,058 sq km, could be halved with Mr Stalin assuming control of the northern region and Mr Alagiri given the southern part, where he is referred to as the uncrowned ‘King of Madurai', whenever the DMK is in power at Chennai. Mr Karunanidhi may also plead for the creation of another State with Madurai as the capital.

Once Mr Alagiri is anointed Chief Minister of the new State with Madurai as its capital, the DMK chief may be able to breathe easy till such time Ms Kanimozhi demands her pound of flesh! If the DMK is in alliance with the winning combination at the Centre, she could be accommodated as a Union Cabinet Minister. But the problem would become serious when Udayanidhi, son of Mr Stalin and Dayanidhi and Kaayalvizhi, Mr Alagiri's son and daughter, graduate into the big league. The Maran brothers, grand nephews of the DMK leader, too will have to be accommodated somewhere.

The wily Kalaignar has already crafted a solution to meet that scenario. It is not for nothing that he has floated the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation. If an Eelam is formed integrating the northern and eastern regions of the island nation, he can depute Mr Alagiri's son as the Chief Minister or Prime Minister of that country! The rationalist DMK's theme song for the 2011 election went something like this: “Elankai Tamilarodu DaivamaaruIJ Kalignar, Namma Kalaignar” (Who is the God of the Tamils in Sri lankaIJ It is our own Kalaignar…)