Diwali is the festival of light. It also, at times, brings to light new facts, hitherto hid in the political closet of denials and supposedly seminal noise-making. Take M Karunanidhi, for instance.

It just so happened that finance minister P Chidambaram paid the DMK boss a “Diwali visit” on Tuesday, and it just so happened that Karunanidhi soon made a 90-degree turn on his stance so far on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector. “The DMK stand will be known when the bill is introduced,” Karunanidhi said, post-visit by Chidambaram (read full story here).

That’s a 90-degree turn from his party’s earlier stated opposition to the FDI argument. If you know even how to spell politics in India, you can bet your fresh, new Diwali kurta or suit that the 180-degree turnaround isn’t far off.

But what new illumination is expected after the bill is introduced isn’t exactly part of the storyline yet.

On October 1, a resolution adopted at an emergency meeting of the DMK executive, chaired by, you guessed it, Karunanidhi, stated: "Allowing FDI in multi-brand retail in the name of economic reforms will spell doom for developing countries like India."

The DMK, which can now look at better dividends in the year-and-a-half till the next general elections after the mercurial Mamata Banerjee’s exit from the UPA, said that a situation in which certain (read Congress-ruled) states implement FDI in retail and BJP/NDA, Left and Trinamool-ruled states, among others, steering clear of it would “hugely” damage the Indian economy. The DMK executive, therefore, “insists the central government to reconsider the decision to allow FDI (in multi-brand retail)," the resolution said.

So what changed between October 1 and Diwali? The equation, of course, with Mamata Banerjee making it obvious that a return ain’t a possibility in near future, the Congress getting Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to board the reforms bus and silence murmurs of dissent within friends and allies, and the government’s stability becoming a jot more confirmed after Manmohan’s weekend lunch with Mayawati.

With 18 members in Lok Sabha, and the DMK now the biggest UPA ally after the Congress post-Trinamool exit, Karunanidhi knows his party can afford to flex its muscles, howsoever puny it is, as both Samajwadi Party and its bête noire in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party, are falling over themselves to extend the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi government ‘outside support, that wonderful substitute word for bargain-hunting in Indian politics’ lexicon.

But Karunanidhi, with his years of experience in doing the twists, turns and tangoing with different political partners, knows the ‘insider’ is bound to get the priority share of the pie. The question, though, is who offered the Diwali sweets during the meeting and greeting in Chennai. As for the rest, happy extended Diwali till the winter session, when more enlightenment is promised in and outside the House.