Don't be fooled: Karunanidhi has not really 'forgiven' Congress

After being relentless in not aligning with the Congress, how does one read the DMK patriarch’s statement on Wednesday that he wouldn’t mind a conditional post-poll support if the Congress ‘regretted its mistakes’? Has the DMK changed its mind after sensing the possible electoral loss for not joining hands with the Congress and wants to make up later or is Karuna indirectly targeting the Congress for betraying his party? [caption id=“attachment_1452965” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The DMK patriarch seems to be targeting the Congress for betraying his party: Reuters[/caption] It looks like the latter. Karunanidhi knows full well that the Congress is not going to ‘regret its mistakes’ by changing its stand on 2G. The costliest ‘mistake’ that the Congress has committed as far as the DMK is concerned, is singling out Raja for the 2G scam and which it will not be able to change either now or after the elections. How does Karunanidhi propose to align with the Congress then? The second condition Karunanidhi posed for his post-poll support is secularism. Can Congress be more ‘secular’ than what it is now? Will it ever back the BJP or tie up with it? This is Karunanidhi’s art of public speaking/posturing which is open to analysis. He wants to make his displeasure with the Congress indirectly and reiterate his “commitment to secularism” at somebody else’s cost. The only serious option, that too a remote possibility, is the third front formation which may be supported by the Congress. Even in such a situation, the DMK may not be the main interlocutor. So, for the time being any alliance with the Congress is a sleight of hand.