Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the year 2006. File | Photo Credit: V. Ganesan
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely known as an eminent economist, had a less talked about quality – he was an adept negotiator in sharing seats, and strong-willed leaders like Jayalalithaa of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. (AIADMK) and M. Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Before the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Dr. Singh, accompanied by former Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony, visited Chennai several times to hold talks with Jayalalithaa, and almost five years later, with Karunanidhi, alone. On both occasions, he, as an important delegate of the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, succeeded in getting most of the Lok Sabha seats for his party, despite the fact that the other side was difficult in giving seats at first. As the former Prime Minister realized that his party’s power was waning in Tamil Nadu, especially after the formation of the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) in April 1996, he knew that unlike in many other countries, the Congress had to play the role of a junior partner. in any of the Dravidian forces.
However, in 1999, Dr. Singh was in the process of turning the party into a comfortable position, as after all, between 1984 and 1996, the Congress contested two-thirds of the Lok Sabha constituencies – popularly known as the MGR formula. named after AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran) – in AIADMK company. But, when the party faced the voters in 1998 for the first time, without the support of the two Dravidian forces since 1971, it did not say anything and got about 4.8% of the votes cast. More importantly, it lost deposits in all 35 seats it contested, including Nagercoil (now Kanniyakumari), a traditional stronghold.
The 1999 election was necessitated by a combination of factors, the main one being the AIADMK’s withdrawal of support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, earlier that year. Also, a few weeks before Vajpayee’s ministry was voted out of power by the Lok Sabha, Jayalalithaa and Sonia Gandhi met at a tea party organized by Subramanian Swamy, the then president of the Janata Party.
While Dr. Singh and Mr. Antony met Jayalalithaa for 90 minutes at her Poes Gardens residence on June 3, 1999, the former Prime Minister described the talks as “sincere, warm discussions” about electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha elections. At that time, DMK and BJP were also united. Dr. Singh showed his understanding of the political situation in Tamil Nadu, when he observed that “Tamil Nadu is known for its rationality and worldview and the people of Tamil Nadu will judge it.” The main issue between the two sides was the seat count. Jayalalithaa was willing to part with not more than five seats, as stated in the report A Hindu on 27 June 1999, while the Congress considered it too few and was determined to return to the MGR formula. He promised to divide 15 seats if the Congress managed to bring the TMC(M) into the alliance. In the end, Jayalalithaa allotted 12 seats to the Congress besides the TMC(M). The national party had won three seats including Puducherry.
The following years saw the relationship between the AIADMK and the Congress deteriorate. Jayalalithaa again played the “outsider” card against Ms. Gandhi. In January 2004, the Congress official sent Dr. Only Singh held talks with Karunanidhi, who had recently quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Stating that the idea of ​​his meeting with the DMK president was to establish a relationship of mutual trust and confidence between the two parties, the former Prime Minister expressed hope that “it was to write a new chapter in the party’s history.” the world.” His statement became important as the DMK and Congress formed an electoral alliance after a gap of 24 years. The Congress, which was given 10 seats as part of the DMK-led alliance, ousted all of them, as did all its allies.
Published – December 27, 2024 04:02 pm IST