DMK loses Raja berth

Chennai, Jan. 19: The new cabinet has no DMK replacement for A. Raja, hardly a surprise to anyone, though the southern party’s sources said M. Karunanidhi preferred not to spar over portfolios and concentrate on ties with the Congress before state elections.

The Karunanidhi-led party had hoped to quickly fill the telecom ministry vacancy in November after Raja was forced to resign because of the 2G scandal, but the Congress gave the berth to one of its own, HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

The DMK, which is the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, was apparently politely told that its turn would come in the next shuffle but that did not happen today.

“The last time when the DMK talked of ministries and portfolios… it had not painted a rosy picture of the party. So by not seeking to fill the vacancy, Karunanidhi is trying to give an impression that he is not after ministries at the Centre. It’s a clever effort to limit the damage caused by the Raja-Radia tapes episode,” a Congress MP said.

Speculation that the DMK’s T.R. Baalu would find a berth did the rounds in the reshuffle run-up but sources said the party chose to let this round of appointments pass by. They cited several reasons, from internal pulls and pressures to focusing on the tie-up with the Congress ahead of the May Assembly elections.

Baalu is believed to have conveyed to UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the last few days that the DMK would not nominate anyone.

“The internal pulls and pressures for that one post were too much for our leader to handle. Baalu was keen to get back into the cabinet but having played the Dalit card while defending Raja, it would not have been politically wise to replace him with a Thevar, which Baalu is. A.K. Vijayan, the other Dalit MP, is too inexperienced to be made a cabinet minister. Also, Alagiri (Karunanidhi’s eldest son and a Union minister) is not keen on Baalu at this stage,” a senior DMK MP said.

That Prime Minister Singh had opposed Baalu’s candidature in 2009 could have also played a part.

Karunanidhi chose the safer option of not naming anyone and concentrating all his energies on firming up the alliance with the Congress, a source said.

Karunanidhi is scheduled to visit Delhi later this month and discuss seat-sharing for the Assembly elections with Sonia Gandhi.