The government on Thursday rejected outright the Opposition’s demand for a JPC inquiry into the 2G spectrum scam while the Congress leadership is understood to have asked its DMK coalition ally to replace controversial minister A. Raja with Ms Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, in the Union Cabinet.
However, the DMK appears to be in no mood to relent on the Raja issue, possibly due to the coming Assembly polls in the Tamil Nadu. As speculation grew that the Congress president had written to Mr Karunanidhi on the Raja issue, Ms Kanimozhi called on finance minister Pranab Mukherjee here on Thursday and briefed him about her party’s compulsions on the issue. Sources said Mr Karunanidhi would visit New Delhi next week to personally sort out the matter with the Congress leadership.
The government insists that it will wait for tabling of the CAG report in Parliament and for the subsequent views of the Public Accounts Committee before taking a view on the matter. The Congress is, however, noncommittal on the timing of the report’s tabling.
DMK sources said the party is reluctant to withdraw Mr Raja at this juncture as it feels that any change, even his replacement by Ms Kanimozhi, would send a wrong signal to the electorate on the eve of state elections. The wrong message would be conveyed, the party feels, if all its Central ministerships are held by members of the Karunanidhi family. Two other DMK members of the Union Cabinet are Mr Karunanidhi’s son M.K. Alagiri and grandnephew Dayanidhi Maran. The Congress had earlier sent the feelers about Ms Kanimozhi after determining that she would be acceptable to the Opposition parties, including the BJP, which are now campaigning for Mr Raja’s ouster.
AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa’s offer to support the Congress-led UPA if it gets rid of Mr Raja and snaps ties with the DMK appears to have rattled the latter. While the Congress is careful to maintain that its alliance with the DMK is intact, sources say the DMK is wary about the Congress’ possible gameplan. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has called for an impartial inquiry into the 2G affair.
At the same time the DMK cannot afford to face the Assembly polls without the Congress on its side. Given its problems over Mr Raja and with Ms Jayalalithaa fishing in troubled waters, the DMK’s first family is quite desperate to ensure the presence of either Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Mrs Sonia Gandhi at the forthcoming wedding of Mr Alagiri’s son on November 18 to send out a clear signal that all is well between the two parties.