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Tamil Congressmen sling mud at each other over Jain report

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Even as the rest of the nation suffers from the 'Jain fever', Congressmen in Tamil Nadu are back at their favourite game. Namely, mud slinging.

Rajiv Gandhi was their guest and chief campaigner for the 1991 election when assassinated at Sriperumbadur. But that is history. And most Tamil Congressmen do not bother to remember it. What they do bother with is their own petty egos, petty ambitions, how to make political mileage out of the issue. And so, we have a pack of them who, ignored by the high command and sidelined by their counterparts in other states, are busy digging deep into the ground and coming up with hands full of raw, slushy dirt. Which, with whoops of unadulterated joy, they sent flying straight at the opponents's eye.

It all began with former Union minister and Sonia loyalist R Prabhu demanding the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government's ouster in Tamil Nadu. He was also keen to see Union Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram getting the boot at the Centre.

Now, a fortnight later, State Congress chief and Kesri confidant K V Thangabalu has joined the issue. Breaking a long silence, he responded by placing the blame squarely on Vazhappadi K Ramamurthy's shoulder. After all, wasn't it Ramamurthy who headed the state unit in 1991?

Thangabalu also cautioned his cadres against the Bharatiya Janata Party's attempts to split the Congress at the Centre, and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's moves to stage an electoral comeback by using the Jain report. Conspicuous by its absence in his statement was any reference to either the DMK or the Tamil Maanila Congress.

A host of party leaders, headed by former MP R Anbarasu, have since ridiculed Thangabalu for 'serving his masters' without bothering about the memory of Rajiv Gandhi, under whose family he flourished. But for the state Congress chief, such ridicules, it has proved, are like water off a well-oiled duck's back.

On his part, Ramamurthy has revived his demands for action against the DMK and Chidambaram. He even turned a convention of his followers on November 19 (to float a regional party of his own) into a Congress workers's meet to force a firm party decision on the Jain report.

This predicament of the Tamil Congress leaders is understandable. Their division is based more on their individual acceptability of the TMC leadership. Thangabalu sees a political future for the party in Tamil Nadu only in the TMC's company -- with or without the DMK, as G K Moopanar may decide. Ramamurthy and Prabhu have pitched their tents in the AIADMK camp. Others like Anbarasu are also strong Moopanar-baiters, who stayed away from the TMC last year for that very reason.

However, the silent majority in this party of all-leaders-and-no-cadres is waiting for signals from 10 Janpath -- Sonia Gandhi's home -- to take a stand. They are not sure what Kesri and company will finally decide. Politically ambitious and electorally orphaned, they would not like to hurt the DMK or TMC, should the Congress decide to continue its ties with these parties for the next election. Neither Karunanidhi, nor Moopanar, they know, forget or forgive.

And that, more than the Jain report or Rajiv Gandhi's memory, is what is uppermost in their minds.

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