AIADMK in a catch-22 situation over BJP tie-up

CHENNAI: One cannot step on it thinking it to be a rope, nor can one step away taking it for a snake - goes a Tamil phrase. The ruling AIADMK finds itself today in such a catch 22 situation as far as its proposed alliance with the BJP is concerned.


Even though the AIADMK has more or less committed itself to face the ensuing Parliamentary polls in alliance with the BJP, it has been buying time in announcing the same, fearing a revolt or rebellion in the party. At the same time, it is caught in a situation where it cannot say no to an alliance with the BJP, in line with the popular sentiment prevailing within the party.

Such a move, the party leadership fears, will anger the BJP and the Centre would unleash central agencies, thereby raising the question over the survival of the government itself. Unable to take a decisive call, the party for the present is delaying the announcement. Minister D Jayakumar and party deputy coordinator K P Munusamy have been maintaining that an announcement on an alliance would be made only after the election schedule is announced.

However, the BJP is upping the pressure. Party's national general secretary Muralidhar Rao said in Puducherry on Tuesday evening that the alliance (without naming the AIADMK) for Tamil Nadu has been finalized and would be announced in two days. "As far as we are concerned, it will be the AIADMK which will decide, form and lead an alliance in the state. We have no idea what alliance the BJP has finalized and is going to announce," Munusamy told TOI.

Lok Sabha deputy speaker and party MP from Karur, M Thambidurai is a major dissenting voice in the open, which the leadership finds difficult to control. The best they could do so far was to ask party leaders to show restraint, while commenting about the party's stand on various issues. "There will be disgruntlement for sure. But, revolt or rebellion will happen only after the results are announced," said an AIADMK leader, on condition of anonymity. "The disgruntlement could be there in every constituency, which has a sitting AIADMK MP, but would go to the BJP or another ally in the eventuality of an alliance," the leader pointed out.

As far as the AIADMK and the BJP are concerned, there is no other option than forging an alliance, says expelled AIADMK leader K C Palanisamy. "However, the result will backfire since they have to fight double anti-incumbency - against the Centre and the state. Thambidurai's attack on BJP's budget has reached the party's cadres across the state, while Namakkal MP P R Sundaram's appreciation of the budget has largely gone unnoticed. That is the mood within the party," Palanisamy added.