The Congress and the DMK warmed up to each other after the CBI Special Court acquitted all the accused in the 2G scam case on Thursday.
One of the main accused DMK’s Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi received phone calls from none other than the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
In fact, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma lost no time in meeting Kanimozhi person at her residence here.
Though it is not clear what transpired between the three leaders and what discussions Rahul and Manmohan had with Kanimozhi, it assumes significance at the backdrop of PM Narendra Modi calling on ailing DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi during the former's visit to Tamil Nadu recently.
Both Singh and Rahul dialed Kanimozhi and each spoke about a couple of minutes amidst the several congratulatory messages the DMK MP received in between. Sources close to Kanimozhi said that she thanked Singh and Rahul for standing behind them and that she will personally seek an appointment to meet in person and rejoice. Singh also asked Kanimozhi to convey his regards to her half-brother and DMK working president MK Stalin.
DMK is a key constituent of the Congress-led UPA. Singh and the Congress had faced scathing criticism during the second tenure of the UPA for not snapping ties with the southern ally in the aftermath of CAG Vinod Rai’s 2G report. Stalin described the verdict as “historic”.
Amidst the speculation of political realignment in Tamil Nadu following the 2G spectrum scam verdict, Rajya Sabha member and DMK MP Tiruchi Siva appreciated the continuous received from the Congress.
“The Congress backed us. Your perception that they abandoned us is not correct. We are very much with the Congress and will continue to be so. Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Karunanidhi was just a courtesy call. Please don’t read political motives into it,” Siva said.
The 2G spectrum case was perceived to have adversely impacted the DMK’s prospects in the 2011 Assembly elections and also the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, both of which their arch rival AIADMK won. Tamil Nadu Congress chief S Thirunavukkarasar said the verdict proved there was no corruption in the previous UPA government. “Truth has won, dharma has won,” he said.
While DMK had snapped ties with the long term ally Congress in the run upto last Lok Sabha polls, the two parties however worked for forging an alliance with local Tamil Nadu parties during the assembly elections.
DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi maintained then his party's relation with Congress as a long-standing, deep and strong and said the working of both the parties is “proof” of a spirit of give and take and reciprocation.
“The ties between DMK and Congress is deep and strong,” he had said in a statement last year and recalled how both parties had fought the polls together as far as back as the Parliamentary election in 1980. The two parties had entered into a poll alliance for the assembly elections in the state last year.