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AIADMK attempts another blast

Without waiting for the nuclear storm to blow over, the fissile material within the Bharatiya Janata party-led coalition government has reactivated itself.

Though the delegation which All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha sent to New Delhi kept a low profile -- claiming that Amma's letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has sought only development in Tamil Nadu -- sources within the government reveal that renewed attempts are on to get the Tamil Nadu government dismissed.

Jayalalitha sent all her 18 Lok Sabha members to the prime minister.

After handing over the letter, former Union minister Sedapati Muthiah, Union Law Minister Thambi Durai and Union Minister of State for Personnel K R Janarthanan had a 30-minute meeting with the prime minister.

Jayalalitha's letter apparently asked Vajpayee to include six Tamil Nadu projects in the Union Budget to be presented on June 1.

But sources indicate that ministers met Vajpayee to press for the dismissal of the M Karunanidhi government.

"She wants to remain at the centrestage and be in the news perpetually. But I do not think that the Centre would dismiss the Tamil Nadu government. Simply because it will not work," a senior member of the BJP-led coalition told Rediff On The NeT.

BJP leaders are certain that the Centre would not oblige its Tamil ally. "We know that pressure is mounting on Jayalalitha as the Rajya Sabha election is slated for June 18. But can we make out a credible case against the Karunanidhi government within one month?" asks a senior BJP leader.

Even if the central government slaps charges of law and order breakdown or rise in terrorism, they need not stick.

The BJP does not want to risk an Uttar Pradesh-like situation when President K R Narayanan asked the Inder Kumar Gujral Cabinet to review its decision to dismissal the Kalyan Singh government.

Even the President ratifies such a decision, it may be set aside by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, reports from Madras say that Union Minister of State for Banking and Revenue R K Kumar got a dressing down from Jayalalitha for not clearing her in the graft cases. And not nailing former Union ministers Palaniappan Chidambaram and Murasoli Maran.

Kumar could not join the AIADMK delegation as he had 'taken ill'. It seems that Kumar collapsed during a meeting with his leader at her Poes Garden home with his blood pressure and sugar level shooting up.

Sources say that the officers in Kumar's department are not ready to go out of their way to implicate Chidambaram, Maran and Tamil Maanila Congress chief G K Moopanar.

Jayalalitha is equally worried about the prospect of not being able to win any of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the coming biennial election, thanks to the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and its ally Tamil Maanila Congress's dominance in the state assembly.

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