Jayanthi Natarajan's letter gives BJP advantage in TN

R JagannathanFirstpost.com

The leakage of Jayanthi Natarajan's anguished letter to Sonia Gandhi, dated 5 November 2014, where she alleges (among other things) that she was sacrificed by the party at Rahul Gandhi’s behest and made a scapegoat for delays in environmental clearances, is one more nail in the Congress party’s coffin.

Narendra Modi’s call for a Congress-mukt Bharat will accelerate in Tamil Nadu, where the party has so far played the third power that could tilt the balance between the two Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK. That role will now be played by a resurgent BJP.

For some time now, it has been clear that the Congress has been imploding in Tamil Nadu, not only because of the party’s crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, but also because it has steadfastly undercut political leaders with any ability to bring in the popular vote in the state.

The process started in November last year, when GK Vasan, son of former Congress leader (the late) GK Moopanar, who had broken off in the mid-1990s to float a regional party called Tamil Maanila Congress (yes, it was the original TMC, not Mamata’s party). The party did well in some assembly elections, winning 39 seats in the 1996 state elections, and 23 in 2001. It ended its separate existence in 2002, after the death of Moopanar.

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R Jagannathan

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The date of Natarajan's letter to Sonia Gandhi is significant: it was sent a couple of days after Moopanar’s son, Vasan, quit the party to float his own regional outfit. The BJP is said to be in touch with Vasan for a possible alliance or merger, but this is unlikely to happen till the state assembly polls are in sight in 2016, if at all.

The Congress, polled less than the BJP in Tamil Nadu in the last Lok Sabha elections, with the latter getting 5.56 percent of the popular vote, and the Congress 4.37 percent. The takeout is simple: even the pre-May, “united” Congress party had been relegated to fifth place in the state, with the BJP taking its place No 3.

The rise of the BJP in Tamil Nadu is one reason why the Congress is rapidly disintegrating in the state. And it’s not only Vasan, but other leaders too who are looking at the Congress as a spent force.

Take the case of Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Over the last week, Karti has been busy cocking a snook at the party, both by praising Modi (“though I dislike him”) and by announcing that the Congress party in its present form would not get even 5,000 votes in the state. As things stand, the party has sent him a show-cause notice for his anti-party remarks, and the chances are that Karti may have to exit at some point of time.

Natarajan's letter to Sonia too makes a reference to Modi. In the letter, she says she was extremely reluctant to attack Modi over the “Snoopgate affair” but was forced to do so by the party high command.

Her letter, printed in full in The Hindu, has this to say: “While I was still a Minister, an important matter which has caused me great agitation is the fact that I was called upon to attack the present Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, on what is referred to in the media as ‘Snoopgate.’ Despite the fact that I initially refused, because I thought that the party should attack Shri Modi on policy and governance and not drag an unknown woman into a controversy, Shri Ajay Maken telephoned me on November 16, 2013, while I was on tour and asked me to come to Delhi immediately to address a press conference on the issue.”

Natarajan explicitly mentions the fact that Maken ordered her to “fiercely attack Shri Modi, on TV channels and during debates, although I was otherwise never fielded in the media after appointment as Minister.”

The political implications of the Vasan, Karti Chidambaram and Jayanthi Natarajan episodes are crystal clear: the Congress is no longer seen as the party which matters in Tamil Nadu. This may not necessarily mean the BJP is the natural alternative, but there is little doubt that more and more people are beginning to look at it as rising force.

Jayanthi Natarajan, apart from being a close political associate of Chidambaram, is also the grand-daughter of the last Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Bhaktavatsalam.

In this lies the significance of her revolt.

The writer is editor-in-chief, digital and publishing, Network18 Group