Rahul Gandhi, MK Stalin
CHENNAI: “You called Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu a traitor because he had crossed over to BJP from Congress. Now consider this. You called M K Stalin on Tuesday afternoon and said, ‘I am with you’. The next morning, you defected from the alliance and jumped to the side you had contested against. Rahul Gandhi ji, we just want to know what you would like to be described as?” said a senior DMK MP, reflecting the anger in the Dravidian outfit’s ranks over Congress’ dramatic switch to Tamil star Vijay after his TVK emerged as the single largest party at the cost of DMK and AIADMK. “It is opportunistic to say the least and, also, politically immoral,” said the DMK functionary who has held a ministerial position at the Centre and is supposed to reflect Stalin’s views. “We did not expect this from Rahul after we spared a Rajya Sabha berth for Congress and gave them more seats than what they should have got on the basis of their strength on the ground. They contested 28 but won only five, and that too only because of the groundwork we did for them.” Talking to TOI from Chennai, he dismissed Congress’ explanation that they needed to go with Vijay since he has got the mandate. “This is whitewashing brazen opportunism. How would they have reacted if we had joined hands with BJP at the Centre citing Congress’ successive defeats?” The former Union minister said it was DMK which, among all INDIA bloc partners, consistently stood by Congress even when Rahul’s actions would generate unease among Congress’ members. “In Lok Sabha, they would like to move into the well of the House over different issues, and their own MPs would resist doing that. But we always did as requested, undeterred by the govt’s annoyance with our tactics. Not that we agreed with each decision of theirs. But we went along because we were in an alliance,” he said. “Alliances are run based on mutual trust. Tell me, who among the allies will trust Rahul now? Will they ever be sure that he will not junk them if he finds that a profitable thing to do?” “It is because of this type of action of Rahul that he keeps losing polls. He tore off the decision of the Manmohan Singh cabinet, and it continues to haunt him,” said the DMK functionary, who also said Congress has a history of betraying DMK. “They twice dismissed Karunanidhi govts. They also brought down the United Front govt in 1996, accusing us of complicity in the unfortunate assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. That it was a false charge was established when they came back to us in 2004 and have not since mentioned it.”
