Cong blames DMK for drubbing in TN, Puducherry

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Blaming DMK for the drubbing in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections, Congress has said there is a need to take a "relook" at its strategy in the southern state as the party must not lose its vote bank due to "mistakes of its coalition partners".

The remarks made in the editorial and an article of the latest issue of party mouthpiece "Congress Sandesh" have come at a time when DMK chief M. Karunanidhi is holding an emergency meeting of the party's high-level action committee.

"The results in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were affected by the 2G scam and these states were lost to other parties," the editorial said.

Another article in the journal says, "The Congress has to have another look at their strategy in the southern state. It must not lose its votebank due to the mistakes of its coalition partners." Congress was part of the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.

Sarvajit Singh, who is one of the two-member editorial board of "Congress Sandesh" along with Union minister Salman Khurshid, also categorically says in the article that results in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were influenced by "public discontent" on the 2G scam being faced by members of the DMK.

"A lot of good work done by the ruling party was lost in the public anger against the alleged huge loss to the exchequer being attributed to a DMK minister," it says.

Noting that the UPA government at the Centre has allowed law to take its own course and "many important political figures associated with DMK and others are currently interned", the article insists "the Congress has to regain its old glory and be in a position to be in power by itself."

The article stresses, "There is a strong need to revive the fortunes of the party at the grassroots once again."

The editorial said, "Investigating agencies are looking into many high profile cases of corruption that have attracted a great deal of public attention.

"The handling of these cases constitutes a litmus test and the agencies involved should act without fear or favour and bring to book all those who are guilty, irrespective of their position or status."

The DMK's high-level meeting, the first after the party's drubbing in the Assembly polls in which it finished a poor third, is being held in the wake of the Delhi High Court denying bail to DMK MP and Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, in the 2G case. She is currently in Tihar jail.

The DMK's direction to all members of the Committee to "participate in the meeting without fail" has fuelled talk in Congress that an important decision is likely to be taken by the Dravidian party.

Of late, the 87-year old DMK patriarch has been critical of the Congress, telling the cadres that bad friendship ends in trouble. He had on Sunday blamed the Centre for the arrest of Kanimozhi, saying it was either due to its "orders or complacency."

The party has been going through a rough patch of late, with Kanimozhi and Karunanidhi's trusted junior colleague and former Telecom Minister A Raja lodged in jail for their alleged roles in the 2G spectrum scam allocation.

Karunanidhi's grandnephew and Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran is also under the scanner in the 2G case and his resignation is being demanded by the opposition.