Chennai: Ally DMK upset over Congress invite to Kamal
Just the previous day, Kamal had stated in Coimbatore that MNM would contest all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.
Chennai: It’s less than a week since he was appointed the new president of the state unit of the Congress party but already K.S. Alagiri seems to have upset the major ally, the DMK, by inviting actor Kamal Haasan to get his Makkal Neethi Maiyam (MNM) join the 'grand secular alliance'.
The DMK made clear it would have nothing to do with the star who has repeatedly accused it of high corruption.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Makkal Neethi Maiyam had said the Congress would welcome Kamal if he chose to join up the alliance (including the DMK) in the interests of secularism. "If he joins our alliance, we will consider his demands", said the new PCC chief.
Just the previous day, Kamal had stated in Coimbatore that MNM would contest all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.
His party wanted to serve the people "with clean hands", he said, adding, "And we shall keep our hands clean by not allying with any of the Dravidian parties".
Perhaps Alagiri did not do his homework well, as the DMK had already made it loud and clear it would have no truck with the MNM chief because he has been repeatedly accusing it of high corruption while the party ruled Tamil Nadu.
Also, Kamal had approached the Congress sometime back — he had met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at Delhi in June last year — and offered alliance if only the national party snaps ties with the 'corrupt' DMK.
The Congress leadership had politely turned down his 'offer' knowing full well his fledgling outfit is not a poll-tested army that is required to take on the AIADMK-led front in the Parliament elections. Besides, the MNM's grass root presence is uncer-tain.
Sources said the DMK has conveyed to the Congress high command its displeasure over Alagiri's invite to Kamal. "It appears that the DMK has been informed that the PCC chief had merely responded to a reporter's question whether Kamal Haasan would be welcome to join the (Congress-DMK) alliance. He had to say 'yes' to that query; there's nothing more to it", said a Congress source.
But then, the actor had even earlier received an invite from the Congress, when Sanjay Dutt, the Congress secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry said in December last year that there were strong similarities in the statements made by Kamal and the views held by the Congress against "fascist and communal forces" and zero tolerance against corruption.
Soon after Dutt's proclamation, the DMK moved in to consolidate its ties with the Congress and also ensure that Kamal would have no place in the alliance.
It's in that backdrop that Alagiri's overture now comes as a sour sip for the DMK.