NEW DELHI, Mar 20:
After withdrawing support to the UPA Government over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, DMK’s five representatives resigned from the Union Council of Ministers which were accepted by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh late tonight.
Singh, who forwarded the resignation letters to President Pranab Mukherjee, also allocated the charge of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry to Srikant Jena who is Minister of State in the same ministry.
The portfolio was till now held by DMK’s M K Alagiri who submitted his resignation today, as was done by his other four colleagues – D Napoleon, S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan and S Jagatrakshakan.
Alagiri and D Napoleon did not accompany the other three DMK Ministers S S Palanimanickam, S Gandhiselvan and S Jagatrakshakan to submit their resignations to the Prime Minister at around noon at his Parliament House office and went separately an hour later to submit their resignations.
There was speculation that DMK Chief M Karunanidhi’s son Alagiri was unhappy for not being kept in the loop over the party’s decision to pull out of UPA. While Alagiri was a cabinet rank Minister, Napoleon, Palani Manickam, Jagatrakshakan and Gandhiselvan were Ministers of State.
DMK, which ended its nine-year-old alliance with UPA yesterday, has 18 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha. The party ruled out supporting UPA from outside or joining the BJP-led NDA.
DMK Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu told reporters that “as per the decision taken by Kalaignar Karunanidhi, we have handed over the resignation letter to the Prime Minister.”
Baalu, who accompanied the Ministers while submitting their resignations to the Prime Minister, said his party will not join BJP-led NDA. Karunanidhi also ruled out outside support to UPA Government.
DMK, which was the second biggest constituent of UPA, quit the ruling alliance in protest against the Government not taking up its concerns in the proposed UN resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violations of Tamils there.
Refusing to be on the back foot despite DMK’s withdrawal, the Government today asserted that it is “absolutely stable” and “not lame duck” amid BSP’s promise to stand by the UPA even as SP kept it guessing.
The Government also said India will move amendments to the US-piloted resolution on Sri Lanka at UNHRC to send a “resolute message” on that country’s human rights and was working to bring a resolution to be adopted by Parliament here, the two demands set by DMK.
A day after DMK gave a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee withdrawing support to UPA, the Government fielded three senior Ministers — P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath and Manish Tewari — before the media to insist that all was well and questioned DMK for changing its position within 24 hours even while its demands were in the process of being considered.
DMK ally VCK, with one member in Lok Sabha, also quit UPA. With the exit of DMK and VCK, UPA is left with the support of 284 members in the 543-member House.
Chidambaram and Kamal Nath rejected any impression that the Government has become “weak” after DMK’s pullout.
“The Government is neither lame, nor duck. It is not lame duck. We are absolutely, absolutely stable. If there is any test, it is on the floor of the House. But no political party has come out to challenge our majority,” Nath, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, told the press conference.
Finance Minister Chidambaram, while acknowledging “challenges” in running a Coalition Government, said, “it is our duty to steer the ship through the maelstrom and our hands are firmly on the wheel.”
Putting up a brave front, Chidambaram said, “Just because one ally pulled out, the Government has not become weak… There is no political instability or political uncertainty… Nobody has questioned our stability except for few voices in the media.”
Asked whether the Government will test its stability by going in for confidence vote, he said, “The question does not arise as we have the majority.”(PTI)
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