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

Jaya's latest: person who 'has no concern for national security' is heading home ministry

All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha today said the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership was suffering from "selective amnesia" as it had forgotten the assurance given to her party to dismiss the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu when it came to power at the Centre.

In a hard-hitting 15-page statement in Madras, she said Union Home Minister L K Advani's denial of having giving any assurance on dismissal to her party at the time of forging alliance for the last Lok Sabha poll, as also his denial that she had raised the issue of dismissal during their meeting, amounted to "selective amnesia".

Continuing her diatribe against the BJP-led government, of which her party is a constituent, Jayalalitha said it was regrettable that Advani, "who has no concern for national security," was heading the home ministry.

Jayalalitha has been demanding the dismissal of the Karunanidhi government in the state as, according to her, it was a threat to national security.

With Jayalalitha launching a frontal attack on Advani, the prospect of her meeting Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Advani on June 27 at Delhi to discuss her demand for the dismissal of the DMK government now appears uncertain. She is also under attack from the state BJP unit.

Jayalalitha claimed that Vajpayee and Advani had been holding the view, more strongly than her party, that the law and order situation in the state was bad.

She said Advani had promised her, after visiting Coimbatore on February 14 when the city was rocked by serial bomb blasts, that the DMK government would be dismissed as soon as the BJP-led coalition came to power at the Centre.

This was communicated to her through Rangarajan Kumaramangalam (now the Union power minister) at Tiruchirapalli the same night when Advani addressed a public meeting along with her, she added.

Jayalalitha said it was condemnable that Advani and some sections of the media were now alleging that she was bargaining for the dismissal of the DMK regime.

The law and order situation in Tamil Nadu had deteriorated last year itself when the southern districts had been rocked by caste clashes, she said.

Jayalalitha said she had sought the dismissal of the DMK government even before the BJP and other parties approached her for an electoral alliance.

The BJP was keen that the menace of fundamentalism in the state should be put down and it had agreed to her demand for dismissal of the DMK government if the BJP-led coalition came to power.

She claimed that Advani had endorsed the demand made by leaders of alliance parties, including Vazhapaddi K Ramamurthy (Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress), Subramanian Swamy (Janata Party) and Dr S Ramadoss (Pattali Makkal Katchi) for the dismissal of the DMK government at the AIADMK silver jubilee conference at Thirunelveli in January.

The same demand was repeated at the February 1 election campaign meeting on the Marina Beach in Madras, which was attended by Advani and Vajpayee, and both leaders had endorsed her demand by lifting their hands in solidarity, Jayalalitha recalled.

After the February 14 Coimbatore blasts, both leaders had expressed grave concern over the DMK government's inability to prevent the blasts, and Advani had even alleged that the DMK workers were colluding with the extremist forces, she said.

Speaking at a public meeting in Bombay on February 27, Advani had faulted the DMK regime for not providing adequate security to BJP leaders during the election campaign, she pointed out.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report