Govt teeters as AIADMK-BJP talks fail
N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government appears to be in trouble after Defence Minister George Fernandes and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pramod Mahajan reportedly failed to mend fences with All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalitha.
With this, all eyes are on Thursday's meeting of the AIADMK and its alliance leaders in Madras where the front is expected to take a final decision on continuing support to the government.
The two emissaries from Delhi met Jayalalitha twice during the day, once before noon, once in the afternoon, before leaving for Delhi. But, uncharacteristically, neither Fernandes nor Mahajan spoke to the waiting media on either occasion. BJP sources in Madras denied rumours that they did not get a proper reception, or failed to meet Jayalalitha.
According to informed sources, the emissaries wanted Jayalalitha to discuss her problems with the prime minister after the Independence Day celebrations.
An unrelenting Jayalalitha then reportedly questioned the propriety of the prime minister holding the Cauvery talks with the four chief ministers without taking his own alliance partners, particularly from the affected state of Tamil Nadu, into confidence.
"She reportedly asked them, ''Why couldn't Vajpayee call me over to Delhi for prior talks on the Cauvery dispute, before going in for discussions with the chief ministers?' " says the source.
"In effect, she seemed to have been hurt at being ignored by the BJP leadership when compared to the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Adds the source, "As Jayalalitha pointed out to the two visiting leaders, the Cauvery issue has been dear to her, she having gone on a fast while in power. She now feels cheated by the BJP leadership, which has let Karunanidhi walk away with all the credit for solving the problem." There was also some puffing and fuming, initially, before the talks took shape.
Significantly, the two AIADMK ministers at the Centre, namely M Thambidurai and Kadambur R Janarthanam also met Jayalalitha after the second round of talks the visitors from Delhi held with her in the afternoon.
Though they did not attach much significance to the
meeting, sources do not rule out the possibility that the ministers could have been told to submit their resignation letters to the party supremo to be forwarded to Delhi, or displayed at Thursday's meeting.
Sources also claim that intermediaries acting on behalf of the AIADMK had wanted the 'Top Two' (Vajpayee and Union Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani) to talk to Jayalalitha on Tuesday.
They apparently weren't willing to take the initiative, though both were reportedly not averse to holding discussions.
While some sections of the AIADMK are jubilant that Jayalalitha looks like pulling down the Vajpayee government, others are waiting to see how the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Pattali Makkal Katchi would react to any such decision at the Thursday talks.
While sources in the two parties welcome Jayalalitha's condemnation of the Cauvery accord, they were not sure if it called for withdrawing support to the government.
"For one thing, we have to feel confident about the Congress-led alternative taking shape. Two, we all went to the voters with the BJP's 'stable government, able leader' slogan. And, three, the people have no complaints as yet against the Cauvery accord," said a source from one of these two parties.
The PMK leadership is awaiting the return of party founder S Ramadoss, who is on a scheduled visit to Delhi, where he was expected to call on Vajpayee.
"Depending on what news he brings from Delhi, if at all he does, the meeting will take a decision," the source said.
As of now the Vajpayee government can count on the abstention of both the five-member DMK and the three-member Tamil Maanila Congress from any confidence vote he may be forced to seek, should the AIADMK and allies withdraw support.
Says the source, "Any positive DMK-TMC vote in favour of the Vajpayee leadership will depend on the Leftists' attitude towards a Congress-AIADMK coalition, particularly on the Cauvery accord. Both of them support it. It also depends on the time President K R Narayanan gives the government to prove its majority."
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