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TN allies shell-shocked as Vajpayee ignores them in Cabinet expansion

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Two days after the event, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu allies are yet to recover from their 'initial shock'. It's not just the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, but even the more loyal Pattali Makkal Katchi and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagham feel let down by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not taking them into confidence on Saturday's Cabinet expansion.

"It may be Vajpayee's way of asserting his position within the BJP, but inside the coalition, it has sent a different message," says a PMK source. "It looks as if Vajpayee is ready to take on his adversaries, whatever the cost, and go down fighting if it came to that. It maybe a memorable swan-song for him, but not so good for us."

PMK and MDMK sources also say their leaders were not informed before the Cabinet expansion and the name of the three inductees became common knowledge in Delhi's media circles. Though PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss sought to cover up his hurt, at a media meet in Madras on Sunday, by saying his party would get one more berth in the next round of expansion, the cadres are nevertheless upset.

The Cabinet expansion meant so much to not just the PMK and the MDMK, but also the AIADMK, in a way.

Dr Ramadoss had publicly announced the name of Shanmugam, the party MP from Vellore, as the next inductee after Health Minister 'Dalit' Ezhilmalai. That was in April, but nothing has happened since. Likewise, the MDMK too has accepted Vajpayee's repeated requests for joining the government after much debate, and with great reluctance, but its nominee, 'Madurandagam' Arumugam, has been left to cool his heels.

Though Vajpayee is on record that Jayalalitha did not want to nominate anyone from her party at this juncture, there are MPs within the AIADMK, who were awaiting their turn to become ministers.

En bloc, the five dalit members of the Lok Sabha in the AIADMK are hoping for a nominee from among them, and Jayalalitha's reported 'nay' now has upset them.

But AIADMK sources claim there was no consultation with Jayalalitha this time on the Cabinet expansion. They also dismiss suggestions that an emissary of Vajpayee met Jayalalitha at Hyderabad last week. Jayalalitha is expected back in Madras after a week's stay at Hyderabad, and is likely to meet with her party leaders to chart out the future course.

While the MDMK seems to have taken it in its stride, knowing its traditional position vis-a-vis the AIADMK, the PMK in particular is upset with the BJP leadership. The party had expressed a preference for the BJP over the AIADMK -- "which alone can promise us additional votes, apart from the DMK in our Vanniyar belt" -- and is hurt.

For Dr Ramadoss, it's not just a personal embarrassment, but also a personal problem. Pressure has been mounting within the 'Vanniyar party' that the only ministerial berth offered earlier was given to 'Dalit' Ezhilmalai. "The second berth was demanded and obtained only to accommodate a Vanniyar, and now we don't know when he will actually be inducted," says the source.

Both the PMK and the MDMK are working on the assumption that Vajpayee is ready to bow out of office, if it came to that. "He has taken on both the RSS bosses and the BJP allies," says the PMK source. "He seems to be working on the BJP's very same 'TINA' assumption. Now the slogan is, 'There Is No Alternative to Vajpayee'. Or, so it seems."

Against this, the AIADMK seems confused and upset. The party realises that its strength lies in the 18 members it now has in the Lok Sabha. "We could threaten the BJP and Vajpayee, only until they felt threatened. There is nothing much we can do to make them see our 'reason' if Vajpayee goes on the offensive, as he has now done," said AIADMK source.

If this implies the sidelining of the AIADMK and Jayalalitha, at one level, party leaders are also upset over the possibility of some of their MPs siding with the BJP in the event of a showdown. "They know, more than anyone else, that they may not win another term. If Vajpayee could ensure majority for his government, then they know what to choose."

For its part, the party leadership is upset over the Congress's 'non-committal' approach to the AIADMK's overtures, for replacing the Vajpayee government. Says a party leader, after much thought: "Between them, the BJP and the Congress have taken national politics out of the hands of regional forces, even while requiring our help at every stage. And Vajpayee has started doing to the allies what Sonia Gandhi's leadership of the Congress has been doing to other anti-BJP parties. Namely, ignore them, without saying so, and dictating terms, without naming them."

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