The “marriage of convenience” between the DMK and the Congress formalised in 2004 is on the rocks, if the statements and apprehensions expressed by the DMK leaders are any indication. Though there is no possibility of an early divorce, chances of separation are staring at both the camps. A senior Congress leader accused the DMK leadership of treating the Congress shabbily while allocating seats in the ensuing local body polls.
leaders of the Dravidian major are upset over Congress scion Rahul Gandhi cold shouldering the DMK patriarch during his visit to Chennai on Friday to enquire about the health of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital. Though Rahul Gandhi had enough time to spare on that day, he did not bother to call on Karunanidhi at the latter’s residence in Chennai which was close to Mount Road through which the Congress vice-president took the trip to the hospital and back to the airport.
A former DMK Minister has lamented that the act of Rahul Gandhi not calling on the 93-year-old Karunanidhi who is confined to a wheel chair was an act of irreverence. Interestingly, the DMK president had kept himself free to receive Rahul Gandhi had be felt like greeting the grand old man of Indian politics.
What has added fuel to the woes of the DMK is the fact that the new president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee S Thirunavakkarassar who has strong bonding with the AIADMK. Before joining the Congress, Thirunavakkarassar was a BJP leader. Prior to his saffronisation, he was a senior AIADMK leader. The DMK camp is of the view that Thirunavakkarassar’s old and strong links to the AIADMK has resulted in Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Apollo Hospital .
But the TNCC chief ruled out all such fears of the DMK camp and described it as speculations. “Do not see any politics in this courtesy call. The Congress vice-president himself told that it was to enquire about the Chief Minister’s health and to wish her that he came all the way from New Delhi,” said Thirunavakkarassar.
The DMK leaders are upset that Rahul Gandhi had not bothered to call on the DMK chief even once since 2004 though he had visited Chennai many times. But Vijayadharini, senior Congress leader and MlA pointed out that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the then PM Manmohan Singh had called on Karunanidhi when he was recuperating in a hospital in 2009.
“Whoever is available and spared are assigned such responsibilities. There is absolutely no irreverence on the part of the Congress vice-president towards anybody,” she said.
But another senior Congress leader pointed out that all was not well with the Congress-DMK ties. “The DMK is treating the Congress shabbily. During the 2016 assembly election, the DMK leadership gave the Congress just 40 seats which was like crumbs. The Congress was snubbed even during the seat allocation for the local body elections. The party has been given just 14 seats for the ensuing election to the 200-seat Chennai Municipal Corporation. The DMK leadership did not show the courtesy of speaking to the TNCC president when he tried to call on Karunanidhi,” said the senior Congress leader.
A former TNCC president said that Rahul Gandhi has a soft corner to the AIADMK chief. “He is in communication with many people in Tamil Nadu and knows the ground reality more clearly than all of us,” said the former president.