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Former ministers K Vijayabaskar and M R Vijayabaskar, who left the AIADMK, said that when they joined Taveka on July 2, “they left the AIADMK because AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami was trying to form an alliance with the DMK.”
Similarly, Public Works and Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna, who spoke at the event, said, “DMK and AIADMK will unite soon. Already 60% of AIADMK members have joined Thaveka. When the DMK and AIADMK unite, the rest of the volunteers will come here.”
Despite winning 108 constituencies in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the party did not get the required majority to form the government. Later, 5 MLAs of the Congress Party, Communist Party of India, Marxist Communist Party, Liberation Tiger Party and IUML supported Taveka with two MLAs each. Moreover, a section of the AIADMK also voted for Taveka during the trust vote.
On the other hand, there were reports that the DMK and AIADMK were trying to form a government together before the Dweka government was formed. This was also discussed in interviews with leaders after that.
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Last May, Communist Party of India General Secretary M.A. Baby gave an interview to India Today, adding further credibility to the story.
Then Baby said, “We met Stalin, the leader of our alliance in Tamil Nadu. He said he would support the AIADMK-led government. Stalin also said that the Left too should follow the example of the DMK supporting the AIADMK.”
Baby also said, “We are not against the DMK and at the same time we told Stalin that we cannot support the AIADMK which is in alliance with the BJP and is working against the All India Alliance.” However, he later denied this claim.
At this stage, talks began about earlier attempts to unite the DMK and the AIADMK.
In particular, many pointed to Karunanidhi’s entry in Nenjuku Neethi about such an attempt after 1977, when MGR was the chief minister. Both sides had different views on the attempt and its failure.
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In particular, the information published by some people that Biju Patnaik, the former Chief Minister of Odisha, was involved in this effort quickly spread. Subsequently, searches for information about this initiative on the Internet increased.
Also during an interview that DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan gave to a private television last year, there were discussions based on the information provided in this regard.
Duraimurugan said, “If MGR had lived for two more days, he would have merged the party with the DMK. By then he had passed away,” he said.
The day after this interview was released, there was a strong reaction from the AIADMK. Khande, Ponnaiyan, former AIADMK legislator Trichy Chelandararajan, former MP K.S. Palaniswami, who were ministers in MGR’s cabinet, sharply criticized Duraimurugan, saying that all this information was false.
Talking about this, Hande said, “MGR was unconscious even two days before his death. I know that I organized treatment on his part. It is true that Biju Patnaik tried to unite the two parties. Indira Gandhi was his enemy. So he thought that if both MGR and Karunanidhi join, the Congress will become vacant in Tamil Nadu, so he spoke to both of them. But this was not successful. It was Karunanidhi who took this initiative. Such a need never arose. MGR until his death,” he said.
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What did Karunanidhi write about Biju Patnaik’s attempt?
Many have discussed this issue based on the fact that Karunanidhi wrote about Biju Patnaik as a “tall man” in the third part of Nenjuku Neethi. From pages 390 to 394 of this book, Karunanidhi has recorded many detailed comments on this subject.
The gist of the information recorded by Karunanidhi is as follows: “On September 6, 1979, Union Minister Biju Patnaik called me on the phone and wanted to discuss an important issue. I asked to come. There were media reports that he was trying to unite the DMK and the AIADMK. Journalists who met me in Vellore on September 9 asked me about this.
Speaking to reporters in Bhumbukar, MGR asked what was wrong with the DMK-AIADMK merger. At a public meeting in Karakala that evening, he declared that the MQM would not win the parliamentary elections. I replied that I would wait and see whatever. After this, Biju Patnaik met me in Chennai on September 12, as he told me.
“He spoke to me about it at length at my house in Chennai. I spoke to the party general secretary and leading leaders and laid down some conditions. The party name should be DMK. There is no objection to having a flag with Anne’s image on it. DMK MLAs do not need ministerial posts as the two parties are merging.”
“Other responsibilities may be discussed at an appropriate time after joining the party. Regarding reservation of seats, the economic (creamy layer) reservation raised by MGR against social justice should be removed. I said that I would organize a meeting tomorrow. Biju Patnaik was happy to hear this and left saying that MGR will accept it.”
“The next day (September 13, 1979), MGR and I met at a guest house in Chepakkam. At this time, Professor Anbazagan, Nedunezhiyan and Panruthi Ramachandran were present on behalf of the AIADMK. MGR and I also talked privately in another room. MGR was surprised to ask if the comments and conditions I told Biju Patnaik were true.
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“I explained to them. To this he said that the executive committee and the general committee of both parties would be convened on the same day and both parties could pass a resolution for the merger. We came out and communicated our decision to Biju Patnaik and local leaders. We explained to the journalists that they would shake hands, take pictures, discuss it in the executive committee and the general committee and make a decision.
“On the same day of this meeting, news was published in the newspapers that MGR had met Congress leader Moopanar. MGR did not speak about this at the public meeting held in Vellore the next day. But by keeping him on stage, the AIADMK ministers spoke highly of me and the DMK. I don’t know what happened between us after our conversation. Party leaders regretted my speaking in Vellore.”
“When the UNI news agency asked me about the merger of the two parties, I replied: “No further action.” That’s why I also said that I think the pre-election agreements will be different. Later, when Biju Patnaik spoke to me on phone, I explained that the situation was not favorable for the merger. He asked me to come to Delhi.”
Karunanidhi, who explained the initiative in this way, said that thanks to Indira Gandhi’s call through Murasoli Maran, an election agreement was reached with the Congress.
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Why did Biju Patnaik try to unite DMK and AIADMK?
As Karunanidhi wrote in Nenjuku Neethi, Karunanidhi (DMK) won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections by forming an alliance with Indira Gandhi after the failure of the DMK-AIADMK merger, says Dravida movement analyst Subhagunarajan.
Speaking to the BBC, Subhagunarajan said: “It is true that this attempt happened after MGR came to power in 1977. Everyone who was there at that time knew this. Both met and talked. But some high society forces who formed MGR against Karunanidhi intervened and prevented the completion of the project,” he said.
Explaining the reason for Biju Patnaik’s participation in this, he said, “During the Indian Emergency, DMK was the only state party that was in power in states other than the Congress. DMK is the only party that was in power and faced serious challenges and opposed it in the strongest possible manner. Many leaders like George Fernandez from many states came here. They felt safe here,” he said.
Subhagunarajan explained that Biju Patnaik, who was instrumental in forming the Janata Dal against the Congress party and bringing it to power, took this initiative to devastate the Congress party in Tamil Nadu. In addition to this, he said that Karunanidhi mentioned only a few events that happened during that period in Nenju Nithi.
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What is the role of Panrutty Ramachandran?
When Karunanidhi spoke about this initiative in a program in 2012, he mentioned that it was Banrutty Ramachandran who blocked this initiative. Karunanidhi, MGR, Anbazagan, Nedunchezhiyan and Biju Patnaik died during the merger talks. Panrutty Ramachandran is the only one present. He also agreed and explained Karunanidhi’s opinion.
Panrutty Ramachandran, who was interviewed by the English newspaper Times of India during MGR’s centenary celebrations in 2017, said: “If only I had not intervened, the merger would have definitely happened. MGR in DMK I told the President that fans will be treated like servants,” Panruti Ramachandran said in it.
Senior journalist Sukuna Diwakar says that only the information posted by Karunanidhi about what happened then cannot be considered true.
Speaking to BBC Tamil, Sukuna Diwakar said, “Everyone is talking about this incident based on the information written by Karunanidhi in Nenjuku Neeti. At the time, Biju Patnaik had written that when he was involved in these efforts, he had said that the name and symbol of the party should not be changed and that MGR should continue to be the chief minister. But there is no record of this initiative by the AIADMK,” he said.
At the same time, Dravida movement analyst Subhagunarajan told the BBC that although efforts were made for this during the MGR-Karunanidhi era, the merger of the two parties in the current state would destroy both parties.
– This is a collective publication of BBC news.