It seems that DMK president M.K. Stalin’s over-enthusiastic talk propping up Congress presisdent Rahul Gandhi as the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) prime-ministerial candidate hasn’t gone down well with some of Congress’ notable allies.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president and Uttar Pradesh chief-minister Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal chief-minister Mamata Banerjee are among those who have openly expressed their disappointment at Stalin announcing Rahul Gandhi’s name as the prime-ministerial candidate of UPA for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls to be held in April/May next year.

Stalin apparently got emotional when Rahul and other leaders attended the ceremony in Chennai early this week to unveil his father and the late DMK president Karunanidhi’s statue inside the party’s Teynampet headquarters in Chennai. Stalin openly endorsing Rahul Gandhi’s candidature for prime-minister without consulting or taking consent of the allies hasn’t been taken to very kindly by the many allies of UPA/Congress in various Sates.

Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee chose to boycott the swearing-in ceremonies of the newly-elected Congress chief-ministers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They were conspicuous by their absence; they attended the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief-minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bangalore a few months back to support his Govt. which is propped up by the support of Congress.

Stalin’s talk appears to have pleased BJP leaders who sense a disturbance in the enemy camp!