ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

BJP minister attacks Jayalalitha as undependable ally

Suhasini Haidar in Delhi

A day after AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalitha left Delhi after a visit that included one heated coordination committee meeting and a much publicised rendezvous with Sonia Gandhi, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government seem to have decided that enough is enough.

This was evident today, at a luncheon press meeting where Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam blasted the AIADMK chief for her "non-dependability" as an ally.

"Ms Jayalalitha may, in fact will, probably leave the government alliance," said Kumaramangalam, "But who is going to want her as a partner after her behaviour towards us?"

The BJP and its non-AIADMK allies had earlier decided to ignore the tea party hosted by Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, where Jayalalitha had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The plan, according to BJP sources, was to dismiss that meeting as a ''social event'', and play up the lunch between the AIADMK chief and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday, where they could say that all their differences had been "ironed out".

However, Jayalalitha scuttled that plan by announcing that she did not agree with the government's position on Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat's dismissal, and that she had indicated as much to the prime minister.

"There are only two courses of action open if this (Bhagwat) problem is to find a conclusion," she said. "Either Admiral Bhagwat should be reinstated, or Defence Minister George Fernandes must be moved to a less sensitive post."

Almost at the same time, the prime minister told the press that the Bhagwat issue had not even cropped up at the lunch, saying this was an "old issue". Almost immediately, wheels in the BJP government began to turn.

A meeting last evening at the prime minister's home was attended by all the BJP's allies, including Trinamool Congress president Mamata Bannerjee and National Conference chief Dr Farooq Abdullah. Significantly, the AIADMK was not invited.

"The meeting," Kumaramangalam said during his attack on Jayalalitha today, "was not held to discuss her demand for Fernandes's dismissal and Bhagwat's reinstatement. According to me, she has stopped being reasonable on that issue. We actually met to discuss her totally unfounded remarks to the press, which clashed with the prime minister's version of the facts. That is why the AIADMK was not invited to the meeting."

When asked if the government was preparing to part ways with the AIADMK, a party with 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, Kumaramangalam said it looked like Jayalalitha would part ways with the government first. "I think this Bhagwat issue cannot be compromised on, come what may," he continued, "even if the government has to fall on this issue. Anyone who asks that he be reinstated, is in my opinion saying they want army rule in the country."

Even so, the battle lines between the AIADMK and the BJP-led government that it is a part of are not exactly drawn as yet. Other BJP leaders remained non-committal on both Jayalalitha and Kumaramangalam's statements. Speaking at the same luncheon as Kumaramangalam, Home Minister L K Advani refused to comment. "Let us wait and see what happens," was all he would say.

Tell us what you think of this report