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

BJP launches mission to check Jaya

Having brought about a temporary truce with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his political managers have embarked on a major mission to rein in their maverick southern partner J Jayalalitha.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are hopeful that Jayalalitha will keep her mouth shut for the time being after Buta Singh's removal from the government, the problems seem to be far from over for Vajpayee.

Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani and Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hedge are expected to reply soon to the prime minister's letters on Jayalalitha's demand to remove them on charges of corruption.

Jayalalitha, who has made the ouster of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu as her principal demand, is sure to up the ante against Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the days to come.

Sources said Vajpayee's political advisors have undertaken a two-pronged strategy to prevent Jayalalitha from destabilising the month-old BJP-led coalition government with her fresh demands.

Firstly, the BJP managers have advised the prime minister to virtually threaten the AIADMK supremo that, if she comes up with any more belligerent demands, the government will vigorously pursue the corruption charges against her. In the face of increased pressure from the courts on Jayalalitha, the BJP leaders hope that the AIADMK chief's demands can be effectively checkmated.

Secondly, knowing well that Jayalalitha is not averse to the idea of dumping the BJP-led government to join hands with the Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi, the BJP managers are searching for potential allies to prevent the Vajpayee boat from sinking.

Though the BJP is yet to make any concrete plans to cull the parliamentary numbers before jettisoning the pre-poll ally AIADMK, insiders say the party is sure to get support from the DMK too if it drops Jayalalitha's men from the government. Already, the BJP-led coalition enjoys outside support from the Telugu Desam Party and the National Conference.

The BJP's managers are hopeful that Vajpayee will sail through the problems, not because of the coalition's inherent strength, but because of the lack of any serious threat to topple him by another other political combination.

The Congress, with 144 MPs, is the only party that could pose any challenge to the Vajpayee government. But toppling the government is not definitely on the agenda of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Though Jayalalitha's emissary Dr Subramanian Swamy met Sonia two days back and apparently discussed an Congress-AIADMK alliance, Congress sources said Sonia is against the idea of a government formation as the numbers do not justify any such an attempt.

A BJP insider said Jayalalthia's sabre-rattling against the Vajpayee government is mainly aimed at heightening the pressure on it to dismiss Karunanidhi and allow her to regain her lost clout as Tamil Nadu chief minister.

But the ouster of the Karunanidhi government does not appear on the cards as Union Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani has already ruled out sending another team of central officials to Madras to study the law and order situation there.

Last week, Jayalalitha had termed as 'an eyewash' Special Secretary Ashok Kumar's report giving a clean chit to the Karunanidhi government.

In a letter to the prime minister, the AIADMK chief has asked for a fresh review of the law and order situation in the state which she contends is deteriorating with every passing day of Karunanidhi's rule.

The Vajpayee government is also optimistic of sternly dealing with demands from other allies like the Akali Dal and the Samata Party. While the Samata leaders have demanded the imposition of President's rule in Bihar, the Akalis want Chandigarh to be transferred to Punjab immediately.

Tell us what you think of this report