Breaking ranks with the Opposition, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam voted with the National Democratic Alliance government in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday on an Opposition amendment to the President’s Address over black money and corruption.
However, the Centre had to face a major embarrassment in the Upper House when the Opposition managed to pass the amendment moved by the Left. This is the fourth time in the history of the Rajya Sabha that an Opposition amendment was passed.
The AIADMK, which has 11 members in the Upper House, voted with the government and broke ranks with the Opposition. DMK president M. Karunanidhi raised questions here on whether the Bharatiya Janata Party and the AIADMK were showing an increased camaraderie.
AIADMK MP V. Maitreyan, who spoke on behalf of the party during the debate on the President’s Address, “welcomed the commitment of the government” to stop generation of black money both domestically and internationally. He praised the Centre for the move to abolish the Planning Commission even as he raised the issue of Karnataka preparing to build two check-dams across the Cauvery.
Drawing attention to the positive remarks made by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on the Railway and the Union Budgets “well ahead of others”, Mr. Karunanidhi quoted media reports in a statement here and wondered if the BJP and the AIADMK were moving closer to each other.
In January, speculation was rife after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met Ms. Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence here. BJP sources indicated then that Mr. Jaitley may have sought the AIADMK’s support for several Bills to be tabled by the Centre in the Upper House. The BJP is in a minority in the Upper House and the support of AIADMK members could prove decisive, though it did not work to the government’s favour on Tuesday.
