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Jaya's aide writes back to the PM, suggests 'closing the entire matter'

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

With an undecided Congress and unsure allies to count on, AIADMK chief Jayalalitha on Wednesday suggested that Prime Minister A B Vajpayee close the "entire matter by reinstating Bezbaruah as the Enforcement Director forthwith".

The carrot that Jayalalitha offered the BJP leadership was hidden behind the sticks that she threatened the Vajpayee government with, in a letter written to Brajesh Mishra, the prime minister's principal secretary, in the name of P Mahalingam, executive secretary, AIADMK headquarters.

Interestingly, the choice of Mahalingam, who was otherwise the office manager at the party headquarters until his unpublicised elevation today, is Jayalalitha's way of paying Vajpayee back in his own coin: of not writing to her, himself.

The government should "not only be above suspicion, but also seem so," Mahalingam said in the letter "written on the directions" of Jayalalitha. The reference was to the controversy created by Jayalalitha's charge of 'someone close to the prime minister' receiving bribes from a newspaper group for effecting Bezbaruah's transfer.

Saying that he was replying to a faxed copy of the letter from the prime minister's principal secretary, the original of which had not been received, Mahalingam referred to Vajpayee's letter as leader of the Opposition to then prime minister I K Gujral on the pressures that were being mounted for Bezbaruah's transfer.

The letter also reiterated Jayalalitha's earlier demand for a comprehensive CBI inquiry into her charge. Mahalingam said he was refraining from naming ministers at the Centre who had links with the said group. Nor did he name the erstwhile member of the PMO who had met the executive director of the newspaper group.

With this, Jayalalitha has put the ball back in the BJP court, full and proper. Earlier, she had expected the prime minister to sack the AIADMK's Minister of State for Personnel, Kadambur R Janardanam, for going public on his grievances over non-consultation on the Bezbaruah transfer. "The idea then was to use it as a legitimate ruse for withdrawing support to the Vajpayee government," according to informed sources.

For her part, Jayalalitha also did not meet former Union minister Buta Singh, who was scheduled to be in Madras on Wednesday as a representative of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha. He was said to have cancelled his visit, but sources say it was based on Jayalalitha's feeling that any such meeting would have only provoked the BJP further.

The BJP's predicament is understandable. If it reinstates Bezbaruah as enforcement director, it would mean yielding to Jayalalitha's 'pressure tactics'. If not, Jayalalitha would be seen by her allies in the state as having made an earnest attempt at rapprochement with the BJP.

Such a scenario would only help the AIADMK cause, given the numbers game in which both sides are involved. Indications are that the BJP leadership may sleep over the Mahalingam letter, and take the next step on the Bezbaruah transfer after the Supreme Court hearing in the matter, expected any day after the August 26 deadline for the government to file its counter, passes.

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