Jaya keeps off allies' meeting
N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
All India Anna DMK chief Jayalalitha has cancelled her proposed visit to Delhi for attending Saturday's co-ordination committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, citing health reasons.
She is also likely to withdraw the AIADMK's two remaining ministers at the Centre, extending issue-based support to the Vajpayee government instead, based on the BJP's response.
Jayalalitha has cancelled her proposed visit to Delhi for attending the coordination committee meeting on June 27, as she has been indisposed and doctors have advised a period of rest, said a terse statement in Tamil, issued by the party headquarters in Madras on Friday morning. Until then, she was expected to take the evening flight to Delhi, and her household too was preparing for the same.
Though Jayalalitha has cited medical reasons for not visiting Delhi, it is more obvious that she is suffering from diplomatic indisposition, if not political illness. Though at one time she was seriously contemplating cancelling her visit, she came around two days back with her party singing a soft tune in the midst of the ongoing slanging match between state level leaders of the AIADMK and BJP.
Jayalalitha now seems convinced that nothing much could be achieved by her Delhi visit, on her demand for the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government.
Earlier indications were that the BJP leadership would try to convince her on the impossibility of the evolving situation. But the AIADMK leadership has come around to the view that the coordination committee meeting itself might be turned against the party.
At the the bottom of the four-point agenda for the coordination committee meeting was Centre-state relations. Naturally, it would have pertained to the use, misuse and abuse of Article 356 under the circumstances existing in various states. While the Samta Party had demanded the dismissal of the Rabri Devi government in Bihar, the AIADMK feels the party, along with the Akali Dal and others, would have come down heavily against Jayalalitha's demand.
"The BJP was obviously working towards a gang-up of most coalition partners against the AIADMK at the coordination committee meeting," says a party leader. Jayalalitha would have been cornered both inside the meeting hall, and outside,by the national press, he adds, referring to her own charge that the BJP was planting stories against her in the media.
In this context, the AIADMK leader does not believe that the Samata Party's demand on Bihar and the Trinamul Congress's plea for the dismissal of the Jyoti Basu government in West Bengal were serious. "They were orchestrated by the BJP to dilute and digress from our demand regarding Tamil Nadu."
The decision of Lok Shakti leader and Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to stay away from Saturday's meeting too "is aimed at giving a semblance of non-bias in favour of the AIADMK leader". As he points out, "The demands on Bihar and Bengal died down as they came."
With Jayalalitha going back on her earlier decision to visit Delhi, the question remains: will the remaining two party ministers, M Thambidurai and Kadambur R Janardhan, too quit the Vajpayee government? The AIADMK executive had decided in its favour even in May, setting a June-end deadline for the state government's dismissal.
"The ball is now in the BJP's court, and it is for them to decide," says the AIADMK leader, adding, "Our decision may depend on what they decide at the coordination committee meeting on Saturday." Even if it withdraws its ministers, the AIADMK may still support the government from outside for some more time before deciding on its next course.
While Jayalaitha's current decision has threatened the longevity of the Vajpayee government, it has also sounded a realignment within the AIADMK combine back in Tamil Nadu. The three-member MDMK group has openly come out on the BJP's side, drawing the AIADMK's wrath, while the four-member PMK with one minister of state, Dalit Ezhilmalai, is sympathetic to Jayalaitha's cause without committing itself.
PMK founder S Ramadoss is attending the Delhi meeting and is expected to present Jayalalitha's cae. So will be Thamizhaga Rajiv Congress chief and Union Petroleum Minister Vazhapaddi K Ramamurthy, who, however, may swing the BJP side if the Vajpayee government's longevity could be assured.
If Jayalalitha was piqued at what she dubbed as the BJP's attempt to split the AIADMK in the DMK's company, the AIADMK leadership's moves in the last 48 hours has brought in dividends. The 18-member Lok Sabha party has now reportedly rallied around the leader, but that was when she was expected to attend the coordination panel meeting, and also have separate one-to-one discussions with Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani.
Any decision by the AIADMK, to withdraw support to the 100-day old Vajapyee government, will depend on the signals it receives from Delhi, A senior Congress leader was reportedly in Madras on Thursday, for the second time in about three week, for an independent political assessment. Though he did not meet any AIADMK leader, he is reported to have met some old political friends and at least one veteran intelligence analyst considered close to the AIADMK leadership.
The coordination committee meeting will be held in New Delhi tomorrow, but
without the presence of two other key leaders as well -- Hegde and
Banerjee.
The absence of these leaders is likely to take away some sheen
from the meeting, regarded as crucial in the wake of the Pokhran nuclear
blasts, economic sanctions by the US and some other countries, and
differences over use of Article 356 for
dismissing state governments.
The one-day meeting has progress of the government's national
agenda and crossing the 100-days in office, revival of the National
Security Council and devolution of powers to the states on its agenda.
Also on the agenda is the current year's Budget with particular
reference to management of domestic economy and the foreign economic policy.
Banerjee has been held back in Calcutta, as counting of votes
in three by-elections to the state assembly will be taken up
on Saturday. She is sending one of her party colleagues to represent
her at the meeting.
So is the case with Hegde, who had ''prior'' engagements in his
home state of Karnataka.
Additional reportage: UNI
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