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N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai
Tamil Nadu partners in the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre are surprised at the speed with which the Pattali Makkal Katchi has been readmitted into the combine.
While the decision itself was not wholly unexpected, the timing and the methodology has taken them all by surprise.
"We are foxed at the speed with which the decision was taken in Delhi," says a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader in the state. "Sure enough, the PMK needs to be readmitted, it has five members in the Lok Sabha, which can prove crucial at times," he adds.
Indications are that the PMK would join the Vajpayee government after the next round of reshuffle, possibly at the end of the monsoon session of Parliament.
As this source points out, the readmission of the PMK, with 20 MLAs in the state, would also bolster the opposition in the 234-member state assembly, where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led coalition now has only 34 representatives.
"But there are basic differences between the Vanniar community vote-bank of the PMK and the Dalits in the DMK-led combine, and this could create problems for the coalition during the upcoming local bodies polls, due before October. This should have been addressed before the re-admittance of the PMK was considered."
NDA partners from the state had hoped to be consulted before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took the formal decision.
They had also hoped for a formal discussion at the weekend meeting of the NDA coordination committee in Delhi. Given that a similar move for re-admittance from the Trinamul Congress was pending, the Tamil Nadu partners had expected a unified decision that would hold good for future situations.
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