Except in the DMK. As its ailing patriarch, M. Karunanidhi, enters the twilight years of his life, he seems to have abandoned any vestige of modesty while peddling the cases of his children and relatives.

It is evident that Kalaignar, as he is known, has no fears of popular discontent with his family-oriented politics - or simply doesn't care because his main rival, Jayalalithaa, is no model of probity. That is probably why Karunanidhi ignored her taunt about his bare-faced attempts to place his son, M.K. Azhagiri, daughter M.K. Kanimozhi and grand-nephew Dayanidhi Maran in the Union cabinet. The DMK chief probably realizes that Jayalalithaa's own record - vide the lavish spending at the wedding of her adopted son in 1995 - will not enable her to take her call for decency and honesty in public life too far.

The DMK leader also knows that the Congress may not pull the rug from under his feet in Tamil Nadu (where they are partners in a coalition) because he is a far more amenable ally, provided he is kept happy with concessions to his family, than the unpredictable Jayalalithaa.

It isn't only the advocacy in favour of relatives which marks out the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister as a person to whom the interests of his family seem to come before those of the nation. The manner in which he had been pleading the cases of party men T.R. Baalu and A. Raja for inclusion in the Union Cabinet, if possible in the same portfolios they held in the earlier one, showed that their controversial past did not bother him.

Baalu, of course, has been widely criticized for virtually stalling the national highways project, which was one of the success stories of the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. His other claim to fame was the open espousal of the cause of his family business from the ministerial chair and the brazen response to questions in this regard with a demand to know what was wrong in behaving in such a manner. That such a man is one of Karunanidhi's favourites brings credit neither to the DMK nor to its leader.

It is the same in the case of Raja. His role as the telecommunications minister was considered to be a dubious one. Yet, apart from Baalu, Karunanidhi pressed for Raja's inclusion in the cabinet.

Karunanidhi's main focus, however, was on his son and daughter although Azhagiri once faced a murder charge. He was also believed to be behind the violence in his stronghold of Madurai, following the publication of an opinion poll by a newspaper run by the Maran family, which suggested that Azhagiri's younger brother, M.K. Stalin, might be the next chief minister. After that incident, there was a period of estrangement between the two families, which has now been made up. But, Azhagiri's past is clearly not one of which anyone can be proud.

If Shibu Soren was the rotten apple in the last cabinet, the DMK is seemingly providing the unwholesome varieties of the fruit in the new ministry. If the intention of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi is to revive the Congress by providing it with an image of clean and efficient functioning, the DMK's “family first” attitude cannot but tarnish it.

The Congress's other allies haven't given it much trouble. Instead, it is the Congress which has been quite generous. Sharad Pawar, for instance, should be pleased that he has been given back all his earlier portfolios despite having hobnobbed with the Third Front for a while and done nothing to quell the speculation about being the next prime minister.

Mamata Banerjee, on her part, is satisfied with being the only cabinet minister from her party although it has won one seat more than the DMK. As a loner in personal and public life, she doesn't seem to favour the idea of anyone else from the Trinamool Congress becoming a cabinet minister. Hence, the six ministers of state berths for her party members.

Except for the DMK's antics, the ministry appears more cohesive than the previous one, with disgruntled elements like Arjun Singh being out of it. Shivraj Patil's inefficiency had, of course, cost him his job earlier. Now, there is a purposefulness about the team, although how effective it will actually be will only be known once the prime minister's 100-day self-imposed timeline for delivering the goods is over. (IPA Service)