Stay charged, DMK style

After making seminal contributions to telecom growth in the country through its illustrious leader A Raja, DMK has now advocated a political equivalent of Mobile Number Portability (MNP). This revolutionary concept will enable the party to continue in power even after shifting loyalty to another coalition.

While MNP allows mobile phone users to retain their number even after changing their operator, the political version of the technology helps regional coalition partners to continue in power and serve the nation, irrespective of the nature of political dispensation.

The DMK has formulated a draft bill for Parliament’s approval. “This is a perfect marriage between technology and politics. It will transform the way we serve the nation,” said a spokesman of DMK.   

It may be recalled that DMK has been part of both NDA and UPA governments at the Centre and is a strong believer in continuity. It has mooted the idea of Political Portability to tackle the issue of instability that has been the bane of rickety coalitions in the past.

“All technologies are ideology-neutral. Why should politics alone be bogged down by ideology? What we are attempting here is a synergy between emerging technology and age-old politics,” the spokesman explained.   

Seen as yet another revolutionary idea flowing from Kalaignar’s pen, it will be introduced in the coming budget session of the Parliament. In tune with the established trend, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been kept in the dark about the new legislation. “I have not seen the proposal. Once I am allowed access to it, I will examine it from the point of view of coalition Dharma,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of an international seminar on “Lessons from Indian Democracy: The Way Forward”.

Expectedly, the AIADMK has strongly opposed the idea and said it reflected the DMK’s “unabashed and shameless hunger for power”. “We will oppose the bill tooth and nail whenever it is introduced in the Parliament.  It is an affront on political ethos of the country,” a spokesman of AIADMK said.  

Meanwhile, in a bid to outsmart her bête noir, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha has sent a friend request to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on FB, offering her support to the UPA coalition. However, Sonia is yet to respond to the request