Baalu: After the family

Chennai, May 24: The family is winning over the party as the DMK prepared to sacrifice T.R. Baalu, its longest serving Union minister, to make way for patriarch M. Karunanidhi’s son M.K. Azhagiri in the central cabinet.

As the Congress waited for its second largest ally to work out a solution to end the berth deadlock, Karunanidhi, after consultations within the party through the day, is believed to have decided to recommend Azhagiri, a first-time MP, grandnephew Dayanidhi Maran and A. Raja for cabinet posts.

DMK sources said Baalu, who pitched hard for a look-in but opted out as he didn’t wish to “embarrass” his chief, would not be left in the cold and he could be pushed for the post of deputy Speaker.

Congress sources in Delhi confirmed that a formula had been worked out with the DMK, by which each party goes half way to meet the other’s demands.

The first family is bracing for a mild setback though. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member who was also expected to join the government, could sit out as the Congress has refused to part with even a single post of independent minister of state.

Apparently, Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi is firm that her daughter either get independent charge, preferably of women and child development, or none at all.

DMK sources said if Kanimozhi was denied, she would “work for the party”. “We will make a formal announcement on Monday. I do not want to jump the gun,” said Kanimozhi.

DMK sources pointed out that Kanimozhi’s absence from the ministerial equation would help dilute charges of nepotism against Karunanidhi, who was till yesterday in a dilemma on how to get three of his family members in.

Maran is a natural choice as the Congress wants him as well. Azhagiri, the first-born of Karunanidhi and wife Dayalu, is believed to have been pushed by his mother. Raja, a Dalit MP from the reserved seat of Nilgiris, had to be picked as a representative of the Scheduled Castes.

The DMK boss is said to have recommended four other Lok Sabha MPs for ministers of state — S.S. Palanimanickam, A. Gandhi Selvan, S. Jagathrakshagan and D. Napoleon.

Team DMK will be sworn in when the ministry is expanded, maybe on Tuesday. Congress sources said only ministers of state would take oath from their party in the second round.

Baalu, 68, has been a cabinet minister since 1996, barring a brief break in 1998-99, and headed shipping, road transport and highways in Manmohan Singh’s first term. He was the DMK’s go-getter in Delhi as he rammed through the Sethusamudram shipping canal project amid howls of protest over its viability.

Leaving out a loyalist like Baalu is a tough decision for Karunanidhi. But, sources said, he is weighed down by family pressure as Azhagiri was unwilling to be a junior minister and the Congress refused to yield to the 86-year-old DMK patriarch’s request for one more cabinet berth.

Of the troika, Maran is being pitched for textiles, Azhagiri could get chemicals and fertilisers while Raja may retain information technology.

DMK sources are hopeful the Congress would finally part with either highways or communications, both of which the southern party had held in the previous government and is demanding now as well, though the Prime Minister is believed to be unwilling to offer crucial infrastructure portfolios to allies.

Karnataka leader M. Veerappa Moily is being tipped to get road transport, highways and shipping.