CHENNAI: Noting how its arch rival, the Centre-ruling BJP, had used horse-trading to prevent the Congress from coming to power, party leader S Jothimani said while it remained a committed ally of the TVK government led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, the party cannot support horse-trade politics that weakens democracy.
While allies CPI, CPM, and VCK have spoken out against it, the Karur MP’s strongly worded statement is the first remark by a Congress leader against the recent developments wherein four AIADMK MLAs resigned from the Assembly and joined the TVK.
The Congress would stand firmly with the TVK government in delivering good governance to the people. However, alliance did not mean unconditional support for every political strategy adopted by the ruling party, she said.
"As an alliance partner, Congress will certainly support him in providing good governance. But that does not mean we can endorse every method chosen by TVK. Those methods must strengthen democracy, not weaken it," she said.
Horse-trade politics had historically been used by the BJP to weaken democracy and destabilise Congress governments in several states across India, she said. "The BJP has repeatedly used horse-trading against the people's mandate to prevent Congress from forming governments or continuing in power in states where the people elected us," she said.
Jothimani stressed that the Congress could never adopt a dual stand by opposing horse-trade outside Tamil Nadu while supporting it within the State.
"If Congress acts as a force weakening democracy, it would become a historical betrayal of the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the party's principles," she said.
At a time when party leader Rahul Gandhi was waging an uncompromising fight for democratic values and ideology, any attempt to weaken that struggle could not be accepted, she said.
Referring to differing opinions within an alliance, Jothimani said expressing disagreements openly was both morally and politically correct, describing it as "friendly criticism," a concept deeply rooted in Tamil literature.
Hours later, another leader B Manickam Tagore, the party whip in Lok Sabha, took to social media to post comments that were widely interpreted as critical of Jothimani’s remarks, but without naming her. He noted that after the Congress formed a post-poll alliance with TVK, many DMK leaders, including MK Stalin, had criticised the Congress on multiple occasions. Now, while some of those leaders have chosen to remain silent, a few ‘alliance critics’ have now come out, he said.