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'Maran, Baalu treated like common criminals'

The arrest of Union ministers Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu by the Tamil Nadu government in the early hours of Saturday morning has got their Cabinet colleagues up in arms.

A top official in the Prime Minister's Office told rediff.com that the consensus within the Cabinet is for the "immediate dismissal" of TN Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram.

“Whether to recommend President's rule in Tamil Nadu, or take recourse to other constitutional means, is something Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will decide in due course," the official said. "His immediate priority has been to take the views of his Cabinet colleagues, and to pacify them. The members of the Cabinet are understandably agitated, and have demanded that the PM teach Jayalalithaa a lesson for having the audacity to order the beating up of Central ministers.”

The official said that Agriculture and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar is the most vocal advocate of Jayalalithaa's dismissal. Others supporting the demand in strong terms, within the Cabinet, are Sharad Yadav, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.

The official said that National Democratic Alliance convenor George Fernandes, who this morningg returned from Madras after meeting both Maran and Baalu in jail, has telephonically informed Prime Minister Vajpayee that both Central ministers are in bad shape because the state administration has given them the bare minimum of facilities in jail.

"George sahib has confirmed that the two Central ministers are being treated like common criminals," the official said. "The two ministers, Maran and Baalu, have complained that they are being forced to eat stale food, and are being treated with disrespect by even the lowest member of the jail staff."

Fernandes, who led an NDA fact-finding mission comprising BJP leader Vijaya Kumar Malhotra and Central minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, will meet Vajpayee at 1245 IST to brief him on the situation in Tamil Nadu.

Another team led by Mukund Bihari Kaushal, special secretary in the home ministry, has also returned from Madras and is expected to report to the prime minister this afternoon.

“The prime minister has cautioned his Cabinet colleagues that all pros and cons have to be carefully considered before deciding on measures pertaining to Tamil Nadu," the PMO official said. "At the same time, Vajpayeeji has assured his colleagues that he will not hesitate to act if his government is convinced that there is a breakdown of the constitutional machinery."

The Fernandes and Kaushal reports will be placed before the Cabinet at 1830 hours this evening, in course of a meeting that is expected to determine the Central government's further course of action.

Karunanidhi's Arrest: The Complete Coverage

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