Don't give in to blackmail

The DMK appears to have threatened to stay out of the UPA government and lend support from outside if it did not get more Cabinet berths than what is on offer. The Congress has apparently offered two Cabinet berths to the DMK. But this will be just about enough for Karunanidhi���s immediate and extended family members who have returned to this Lok Sabha. The DMK wants extra berths to accommodate T R Baalu and A Raja both of whom were Cabinet ministers in the previous UPA regime. This has rightly been resisted by the Congress leadership. Both Baalu and Raja were not shining examples of clean and transparent governance, to say the very least.

The ministries run by the DMK members were widely castigated for their brazenly rent-seeking style of governance. Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi have rightly sought to limit the DMK���s Cabinet quota proportionate to their seats in Lok Sabha. After all if Mamata Banerjee has settled for just one Cabinet berth, how can DMK, with less Lok Sabha seats, ask for so many posts in the new Cabinet?

The Congress leadership must stand its ground and not concede more Cabinet berths than is rightfully due to the DMK. Any surrender to political blackmail at this stage will embolden the UPA allies to do more of the same in the future. It is better for the Congress to settle this issue at this stage itself. Otherwise, what is the use of receiving such a qualitatively better mandate from the people?

The DMK is in no position to push the Congress beyond a point. For the DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu survives with the support of over 35 Congress legislators. No wonder Congress MLAs from Tamil Nadu are camping in Delhi to provide counter ammunition in case the DMK decided to precipitate matters. DMK must realise that coalition politics has also matured over the years and the current mandate carries with it a strong message for parties that they can���t make demands far in excess of their strength in Lok Sabha. The DMK will do well to curb its excessive ambition, which is disproportionate to the mandate it has received. The Congress must do everything to jettison the impression that the prime minister can be routinely pushed around by any of the allies on irrational grounds.