Burden of office begins to tell on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran health

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, in his '60s has learnt one lesson - to administer a state is not as simple as swinging from creepers in jungles or saving damsels in distress.His inability to improve the lot of the poor - notwithstanding his sincere intentions - and the near-standstill of administration in the state, for want of proper leadership and guidance, has almost made him throw in the towel and get back to being king of the Tamil silver screen.The burden of office has begun to tell on his health and for some time now he has been wanting to take a break by going on a long holiday to the West. Having fulfilled yet another ambition - that of presiding over the Fifth World Tamil Conference it won't be long before he lays down office.The tragedy of his political career, however, is that there is no one in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to whom he could transfer power. He is, therefore, not averse to handing over power to the Congress(I), provided it enters into a coalition with the AIADMK.That MGR was displeased with his party and ministerial colleagues became apparent during the recent AIADMK organisational elections. Groupism was rampant, with ministers openly taking sides.Liquor anathema to MGR - flowed freely to influence voters. A disgusted MGR countermanded elections to the posts of party secretary in four districts. He is reported to have confided to Mrs Gandhi that he was not keen on maintaining the AIADMK as a separate entity. But he did not want to dissolve it immediately though he was prepared to give up his chief ministership before proceeding to the US for his much postponed medical treatment.Embarrassment: MGR's pronouncements and actions has already alienated most of the alliance parties with whom the AIADMK contested the last Assembly elections. He came out publicly in favour of the presidential form of government and pronounced Mrs Gandhi as the fittest person for that office.Such statements have greatly embarrassed all the fraternal parties of the AIADMK including the Gandhi-Kamraj National Congress and the Tamil Nadu Kamraj Congress. Top leaders of these parties have issued statements condemning the arrest of Narayanaswamy Naidu, president of the Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam and his followers under the National Security Act (NSA).The opposition DMK, which supported the NSA along with the AIADMK, when it came up for ratification in Parliament has also joined other parties in the state in condemning the way in which the NSA has been used by the MGR Government.MGR, however, is not particularly worried about his party's alienation from its allies and the possible parting of ways-it was the alliance parties (the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist) who benefited more than the AIADMK by contesting the elections under his umbrella. His main concern is get back into the good books of Mrs Gandhi.The only fly in the ointment is the three-way split in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee-1 (TNCC-I). Karuppiah Moopanar, one of the All India Congress Committee-I (AICC-I) general secretaries, firmly believes that this is the most opportune time for the Tamil Nadu unit to drop its crutches and strike an independent posture.With the Congress (I) firmly in the saddle in New Delhi, it should not be difficult to build up the party in the state. Moopanar, a strongman of the Congress (I) in Tamil Nadu, has little use for the DMK or the AIADMK.But the TNCC(I) president M. P. Subramaniam, an unabashed admirer of MGR. would go to any extent to placate the film star chief minister. MGR reciprocated the sentiments by openly stating that he was releasing the agriculturist leader, Narayanaswamy Naidu and his followers, detained under the NSA, in deference to the wishes of the TNCC(I) chief.Unfortunately for Subramaniam he commands the least following in the party within the state. The DMK has a strong lobby in the TNCC(I) represented by Thindivanam Ramamurthy and his ilk who feel that time is on their side.MGR's poor health and absence of a second line of leadership in the AIADMK would ultimately lead to a withering away of the party, leaving the field clear for the DMK. Mrs Gandhi too has not yet given her acquiescence to put asunder what Sanjay Gandhi had joined together in Tamil Nadu -the Congress (I) and the DMK.Mrs Gandhi (left) and MGR: A thawing relationshipThe Relationship: Mrs Gandhi's acceptance of MGR's invitation to participate in the World Tamil Conference in Madurai is an indication of the thaw in the ties between the two parties.Not only Mrs Gandhi but Chief Ministers Anjiah and Gundu Rao participated in the conference much to the consternation of the DMK president. M. Karunanidhi, their political ally in Tamil Nadu.MGR went to the extent of withdrawing one of the 28 tableaux got ready for the procession during the conference, depicting two kings, Kanga and Vijayam, carrying a huge boulder from the North to Tamil Nadu as a punishment for insulting a Tamil poet when he visited them, lest it hurt Hindi sensibilites. Mrs Gandhi was quite aware of the boycott of the conference by the DMK. As a sop to DMK sentiments, she kept MGR on tenterhooks for days before giving her consent.The thaw in the relationship, however, received a setback in the unequivocal stand taken by MGR on the question of transfer of judges. The chief minister was not opposed to the transfer of Chief Justice M.M. Ismail so much as the imposition of a chief justice from the hinterland of the Hindi belt.For a party which draws its sustenance from Tamil sub-nationalism, he had little option but to oppose the move. With the Patna High Court Chief Justice K. B. Singh withholding consent to his transfer to Madras, there is still time for New Delhi to repair the breach if the Congress (I) high command is not opposed to its Tamil Nadu unit coalescing with the AIADMK.The impending alliance of the two was not lost on the DMK legislators. Two of them, V. Subramaniam and Babu Govindrajan, have just defected to the aiadmk raising its strength in the Assembly to 131.-Southern Bureau Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 30, 2013--- ENDS ---

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Burden of office begins to tell on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran health

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran, in his '60s has learnt one lesson - to administer a state is not as simple as swinging from creepers in jungles or saving damsels in distress.

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