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DMK allies hope for ministerial berths at Centre

With the two ministers of state belonging to the Pattali Makkal Katchi quitting the Vajpayee government at the Centre, minor partners in the National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu expect the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to recommend their case for filling up the vacancies.

It has also aroused fresh hopes in the state BJP and also a section of the DMK parliamentarians who hope for a berth at the Centre.

The PMK ministers in two economic ministries, that too involving the energy sector. Between them, E Ponnuswamy was minister of state for petroleum, while N T Shanmugam was attached to the coal ministry, where he was shifted from health.

With the Budget session of Parliament less than a fortnight away, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee may be actively considering the filling up of those vacancies before long. Else, he would have to wait until after the Budget session, when campaign for the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry would be at a feverish pitch. It is likely that the Opposition parties will seize upon the chance to criticise the BJP leadership for denying the region its due.

Already, the DMK leadership has been under internal pressure that it has fewer ministers at the Centre than the AIADMK had under the Vajpayee dispensation. Against this, the state BJP refers to the absence of a Cabinet minister from the party from Tamil Nadu after the untimely death of Rangarajan Kumaramangalam. His replacement, Pon Radhakrishnan, the Lok Sabha member from Nagercoil, is only a minister of state.

Against this, however, other allies of the BJP and the DMK argue their case the best. The MGR-ADMK and the MGR Kazhagam both have one member each under the NDA arrangement, and they hope they would be chosen for filling up the vacancies. While BJP leaders point out that the two vacancies belonged to the non-DMK allies of the DMK in the state, and should go to the largest partner after the PMK, the smaller allies argue further to claim that the two berths were held by non-national, sub-regional allies of the DMK.

"No one stopped Pon Radhakrishan, or any other BJP leader from the state BJP being given a Cabinet berth after Kumaramangalam's exit. If the prime minister did not do so, he would have had his own reasons," says an ally, not wanting to be named.

Indications are that MGR-ADMK leader and former state minister S Thirunavukkarau, and the MGR Kazhagam member S Jagadrakshakan may be actively considered for a ministerial berth this time round. Between the two, Thirunavukkarau has been upset over the DMK leadership not recommending his case for a berth even earlier -- and acting as a stumbling block instead. He was said to be actively considering the wisdom of quitting the NDA and rejoining the AIADMK at one stage, but the possibility of the vacancies arising at the Centre following the probable exit of the PMK is what had kept him going.

Now with the PMK out of the alliance, and the DMK combine thus weakened at the hustings, Thirunavukkarasu can be expected to use it as a leverage for continuing in the NDA till the assembly polls. Against this, the MGR Kazhagam may be willing to forego its expected claims in seat-sharing talks for the assembly elections, in return for a ministerial berth at the Centre. As reports have it, the MGR Kazhagam is said to be keen on the petroleum portfolio, held by Ponnuswamy, while Thirunavukkarasu may be willing to accept any department, and use his capabilities and ministerial experience in the state, to work his way up the ladder.

Between them, the two minor parties represent the 'followers of MGR' within the NDA, and as such, they are bound to interpret any denial of ministerial berths for them, as the ruling DMK's continued antipathy towards accommodating 'MGR followers' in positions of power. If not them, the AIADMK rival of the DMK is sure to run a whisper campaign on election-eve, which the DMK can ill-afford under the weakened electoral circumstances, particularly if the TMC too opts against the NDA.

While the MGR Kazhagam might grumble, and still stay back, MGR-ADMK leader Thirunavukkarau may revive his plans for walking out on the DMK-NDA. His future plans, in that case, would depend on the decision of the TMC on the one hand, and Jayalalitha's willingness to re-accommodate him in the number two position in the AIADMK at a time doubts still persist about her own eligibility for contesting the assembly polls.

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