Reference Auto

By withdrawing its ministers from the Centre, the DMK has given a veiled threat to the Congress-led UPA government to stop CBI probe on DMK party members for their alleged role in the telecom scam.

The DMK may say its disagreement over seat sharing in the forthcoming April Assembly elections is the reason behind the withdrawal of its ministers (it hasn’t withdrawn support entirely), but the apparent reason for this move could be the Congress party’s decision to let the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI go ahead with its probe on ex-telecom minister A Raja unhindered.

The DMK will also want  the probe on Kanimozhi, DMK boss Karunanidhi’s daughter, for her alleged role in the 2G telecom scam, to discontinue.

But the DMK does not seem to have the firepower to wield its stick on the Congress. Withdrawing support to the Congress may put the UPA government short of majority but with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav proclaiming their support, the UPA government may not fall immediately.

In fact, the DMK seems to be desperately seeking a rapprochement with the Congress. DMK senior leader and Lok Sabha MP T R Baalu said no one from the Congress had got in touch with the party after it decided to pull out.

So, is the Congress trying to send a message across to coalition partners and the country’s polity as well as the people that it intends to stem corruption despite many of its own party insiders being involved in a litany of scams?

The latest one to be sucked into a controversy is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself, who had cleared the appointment of Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas despite BJP leader Sushma Swaraj drawing the Prime Minister’s attention to the chargesheet where Thomas had caused loss to the Kerala government for importing palm oil at exorbitant rates.

The Prime Minister, despite having a clean image, has seen others siphon off huge funds under his nose. The Prime Minister has taken responsibility for decision to appoint Thomas after the Supreme Court slammed him and home minister P Chidambaram for appointing a “corrupt” official in an anti-corruption body and struck it down.

Meanwhile, the DMK had stated it will pull out of the UPA government and its ministers will put in their papers on Monday. “Our ministers will submit their resignations in Delhi on Monday,” Baalu said. The party has six members in the Cabinet and they include Karunanidhi’s son M K Alagiri along with Dayanidhi Maran.

The apparent reason the DMK gave for the separation was that the Congress demanded 63 seats for the April 13 Assembly polls, something the DMK said was unacceptable to it. Maran said the Congress did not want the DMK to be part of the alliance any more.

The Tamil Nadu party has, however, said it would provide issue-based support to the government.

So with the Congress taking on corruption head on, could this be its trump card for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and will it actually appease the public or will the party renegotiate with the DMK and see its image take another beating?