Will AIADMK offer Congress their support?

With the DMK deciding to withdraw its support at the Centre after talks between the two parties on seat-sharing for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections failed, the Congress may just turn to J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK for support.

The opposition camp in Tamil Nadu is expectedly happy with the dramatic decision by the ruling DMK to exit the UPA government.

Just a few months ago, Speaking to TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Jayalalithaa made a dramatic offer to the Congress, if they decided to dump the DMK.

Excerpts from the November 10 interview:

Arnab Gosawmi: If the Congress Party takes action against Mr. A Raja and there are political consequences to that, then the AIADMK will consider supporting the party and UPA government at the Centre?

Jayalalithaa: I am saying this on the presumption and the common perception that the hesitation of the Congress in taking action against Mr. Raja is because they fear that the coalition government will collapse. As I have said earlier there is no point in expecting Mr. Raja to resign on this own. He will not do that and there is no point in expecting the DMK leader Mr. Karunanidhi to step down. He will never do that. So what is the alternative.

If the Congress wants to save its credibility from further erosion, the Congress has to act swiftly to dismiss Raja from the union cabinet and what is holding the Congress back from doing it? Since the whole nation is aware of the corruption indulged by Mr. Raja, surely the Congress leadership knows very well what Mr. Raja has done. Every constitutional authority from the CAG to the SC has commended in dealing on the massive scam cause by Mr. Raja. So what is still holding back the Congress when it is facing embarrassment at the Parliament? Every time there is a session of the Parliament the same demand is repeated by all the opposition parties – dismiss Raja and take action against Raja. Today a stage has been reached where the Congress can no longer afford to ignore this demand. So what is holding the Congress back? – the fear that the coalition government might collapse.

So based on that presumption, what I am saying is that the DMK has 18 MPs at the Lok Sabha. The Congress does not wish to lose the support of those 18 MPs. But now the DMK’s position has become untenable. Raja’s position has become untenable. If the Congress wishes to avoid going in for a mid-term polls, the numbers have to be made up. We have 9 MPs in the Lok Sabha and between them other friendly parties have enough MPs to make up the 18 with one or two to spare.

Arnab Goswami: Will you seek any condition for your party MP's giving support to the Congress?

Jayalalithaa: That would be premature. There will be no conditions from my side. All I am interested in is seeing that probity is restored to public life. All that I am interested in seeing is that the perpetrator of such a massive scam is not allowed to go scot free simply because of the compulsion of coalition politics. Just imagine, the CAG has mentioned that Raja has caused a loss of Rs 176.379 crore to the nation. This is a mind-boggling figure. The common man would be hard put to figure out how many zeroes you have to add after this number. So this is a scam of a magnitude never before witnessed in this country. Perhaps unprecedented in the annuls of world history and it has now been revealed that Raja willfully disregarded the advice of the prime minister and the law minister, finance minister and just went ahead with what he felt right. So, is her going to allowed to get away with it? He should not be allowed to get away with it. He should be dismissed from the union cabinet and made to face prosecution. As citizen of the country, I am interested in seeing that the guilty are punished. That is all. There are no conditions from my side.

I would also like to add that if a mid-term poll becomes inevitable, my party is prepared to face it anytime.

Arnab Goswami: Who are these other like minded parties who will be actually willing to support the UPA?

Jayalalithaa: I do not think it would be appropriate to mention their names now. But rest assured I do not make idle claims. When I say I have 18 MPs ready to replace the 18 MPs of the DMK, I mean what I am saying.