KCR-Karunanidhi meet in Chennai sparks speculation

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Chennai on Sunday to call on DMK president Muthuvel Karunanidhi and to hold discussions with the party’s de facto chief MK Stalin has set political grapevine in the State in full swing.

Since Karunanidhi (95) is not in the best of health, chances of the TRS chief discussing political issues with the grand old man of India politics do not arise. The TRS does not have any presence in Tamil Nadu and hence there is no possibility of Rao discussing State politics with Stalin, with whom he had a luncheon meeting for more than 90 minutes.

TKS Elangovan, MP and DMK spokesman told this newspaper that Rao’s visit to Chennai was only a courtesy call, there is more to it than that meets the ordinary eyes. “Rao came to Chennai to pay his respects to our leader Dr Kalaignar and there is nothing beyond that. Talks about the DMK joining a Third Front or Federal Front which is being planned by TRS is not correct,” said Elangovan.

But there are reports that Rao has come with a mission to Chennai. His target was to minimise the power of Congress. Rao discussed the possibility of curtailing the number of seats to be allocated to the Congress by the DMK during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said a source close to the DMK leadership. “The Congress was allocated ten seats by the DMK during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the party won all the seats it contested in Tamil Nadu. During the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the DMK was forced by the Congress to part with 15 seats and it won eight seats,” pointed out the source.

He said that by the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the DMK and the Congress had fallen out because Karunanidhi was upset with the Congress leadership for not helping his daughter Kanimozhi in the 2G Spectrum scam. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, was arrested by the CBI in May 2011 and was in Tihar Jail for 193 days. The indifference of the Congress towards the arrest of his daughter made Karunanidhi  part ways with the Congress by March 2013 . In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Congress had to fight alone and the party was wiped out in the State. It could poll just 4.3 per cent votes. The DMK too drew a blank as the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa walked away with 37 of the 39 seats at stake from the State.

Rao too has no love lost for the Congress and knows well that the Grand Old Party has to be reined to ensure that the proposed Federal Front gets an upper hand post-elections. Though the Congress and the DMK have restored their alliance, Stalin is not well disposed towards the party. S Thirunavakkarassar, president of the TNCC does not lose a single opportunity to claim that the Congress is the second largest party in Tamil Nadu and demands a minimum of 20 seats for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “The intention of Chandrasekar Rao is to make the DMK tough in its dealings with the Congress. The party would be a partner of the DMK-led alliance but it would not get more than a six seats from the DMK,” said the observer.