nWith the DMK refusing to part with even a single seat to the Congress in the upcoming Rajya Sabha election from Tamil Nadu, the grand old party of India is sulking silently and has to continue as second fiddle to the Dravidian major.
The sight of the DMK drubbing the Congress, which commenced in the 1967 Assembly elections, is continuing unabated and this has resulted in the latter becoming more vulnerable and weak, according to senior Congress leaders in the State.
Even in 1967 when the Congress was defeated by the DMK for the first time, the former had polled 41 per cent of the popular votes while the Dravidian party could poll only 40.7 per cent. From that respectable vote share, the strength of Congress has come down to just 6.47 per cent (in the 2016 Assembly election).
Govindarajan Satymurthy, veteran scribe who has tracked the Congress in Tamil Nadu for more than four decades, said that the DMK made hay while the Congress became weaker and weaker over the years. “In the 2006 Assembly election, the DMK under M Karunanidhi managed to win just 96 seats in a House with an effective strength of 234 members. Though the Congress won 34 seats as an ally of the DMK, Karunanidhi refused point blank to share power with the former. Karunanidhi became chief minister and ruled the State for five full years without yielding to the demands made by the State leaders of the Congress for a share of power,” said Satyamurthy.
He pointed out that the situation was different at the Centre. “The Congress formed Governments in 2004 and 2009 at the Centre and had to accommodate the DMK by offering them some of the plum ministries. The situation was entirely different in Delhi,” he said.
When asked whether he would give place to the Congress in Tamil Nadu Government, Karunanidhi replied with a wink: “I have given them a major place in my heart”. The Congress High Command was happy with Karunanidhi allocating them a place ion his heart and failed to bargain effectively with the DMK leadership. Though Jayalalithaa used to describe the Karunanidhi-led Government as “the minority DMK Government” at each and every juncture, the Congress leaders failed to take the cue and pressurize the DMK for its pound of flesh.
There is massive resentment in the Congress over the “double-standard” of the DMK. “We do not hope that Stalin, the DMK chief would accommodate us in the State Government after the 2021 election. For that to materialize, the High Command should bargain effectively with the DMK leadership. The situation is ripe because the DMK is not in the best of health. If we fail to bargain tough with the DMK, chances are that many senior leaders may walk over to the outfit to be launched by Rajinikanth,” said a senior Congress leader who did not want his name to be quoted.
Satyamurthy also pointed out that the DMK was magnanimous enough to nominate Vaiko of the MDMK to the Rajya Sabha despite the latter drawing a blank in the 2016 assembly election, the Congress which had polled 6.5 per cent votes was ignored. The party had to get P Chidambaram elected as Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra,” said Satyamurthy.
If the Congress fails to negotiate tough with the DMK prior to the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly election, the former is likely to end up as a non-entity in the State despite the party boasting of some of the top leaders from South India.