Tamil movie scriptwriter Muthuvel Karunanidhi was once known for giving plots and stories some last-minute twist and adding dollops of surprise. Pushing 88 summers, Karunanidhi seems to have not lost touch with his skills, if not in movies, at least in politics.
What made Karunanidhi, popularly called MK, suddenly pull the plug from the UPA government in Delhi on Saturday evening, catching the Congress unawares and sending poll-charged politics into a tailspin?
The Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Saturday decided to pull out of the Congress-led government at the Centre after talks between the two parties on seat-sharing for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections failed.
If insiders in the DMK are to be believed, the Congress tried to use the 2G Spectrum stick to make the DMK fall in line. With the scam money reaching dangerously and embarrassingly close to party-run TV channels and the DMK leaders' doorsteps, the Congress thought they could arm-twist Karunanidhi.
It was this confidence that made the Congress not only demand 63 seats, up from 48 in the last elections, but also wanted to pick and chose the seats.
Sources also said that the DMK move comes at a time when the CBI is bracing up to interrogate Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi's daughter and a Lok Sabha member.
While the noose of the investigating agency tightens around DMK's throat, the Congress shows little interest in sealing the alliance for the upcoming polls.
Another reason why the DMK president got rattled was Friday night's tie up between AIADMK's J Jayalalithaa and Captain Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). Soon after the meeting, Karunanidhi called back his leaders and sent out a terse message - that something has to be done.
With Jayalalithaa taunting Karunanidhi that he is heading a minority government and happy playing second fiddle to the Congress, MK could be no way seen to be bowing to the dictates of the Congress.
The DMK's decision to pull out of the seven-year-old successful alliance between the two parties under severe strain comes ahead of the April 13 polls when it faces a tough challenge from rival AIADMK which has already tied-up with actor Vijayakant's DMDK and Left parties.
With the DMK showing Congress its place, Karunanidhi has displayed that he is still the master, not a worn-out second fiddle.
What shocked Karunanidhi was the fact that the Congress was 'demanding' seats when it should be 'asking', rather pleading.
That is why he said: "We are compelled to suspect that these are all efforts by Congress to push us out of the UPA. Under these circumstances we have to think whether to continue in the government. So we have decided to relieve ourselves from the government."
And another masterstroke from MK was to extend issue-based support to the UPA. With the Budget session on, the UPA will desperately need the support of the DMK to get key financial bills through. Every time the UPA is on the threshold of a crisis of survival, the DMK will be out with its political knife demanding its pound of flesh.
Karunandhi made it clear that while pulling out its six ministers from the Union Cabinet, the party would give issue-based support to the Manmohan Singh government during 'times of trouble'. But that would always be with a rider.
So, there would be another twist from Muthuvel Karunanidhi every time the UPA is in crisis. The DMK has also left a small door open, saying that the Congress can come with a revised proposal.
With 18 MPs, the DMK is the second largest ally of the Congress in the UPA after Trinamool Congress which has 19 MPs.
Karunanidhi, who had last night accused the Congress of being unreasonable in its demand, also charged the ally of trying to push it out of the UPA.
The meeting of the party's high-powered committee presided over by him adopted a resolution to pull out of the government and to give issue-based support.
Apparently referring to the Congress' demand of 63 seats of its choice after agreeing to 60, he said the Congress stand does not help for an amicable poll accord.
The DMK -- Congress alliance swept all the 40 Lok Sabha seats including the lone Puducherry seat in the 2004 elections and won 28 seats in the 2009 general elections. The combine also won the 2006 Assembly elections, though DMK could not get a majority on its own.
The DMK move comes about two months after the probe in the so-called 2G scam evicted A Raja from the communications ministry and put some of the party's top leaders under the lens.
With 18 MPs, DMK was the second-largest ally of the Congress in the second UPA government after Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.
The Congress reaction was guarded. "It is too early to comment on this development. We are yet to discuss the issue in our party," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Business Standard .
This won't topple the government at the Centre, which, into its second year, can count on fence-sitters like Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party, which has 21 MPs, but it will dent its stability. Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, too, according to a Congress leader, could be relied on. Recently, AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha, DMK's arch rival in Tamil Nadu, offered support in case the Congress dumped its Dravidian partner.
DMK has six ministers, including two of Cabinet rank, in the Union government.
Source: India Syndicate with inputs from Business Standard and PTI