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Sonia, Jaya talk may have affected AIADMK's plans

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Did All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader J Jayalalitha speak to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the phone last week? And was the latter's reported reluctance to form an alternative government at the Centre behind Jaya's softening her stand against the A B Vajpayee government?

If sources are to be believed, Jayalalitha spoke to Sonia mid-week, if only to confirm for herself, the reported feelers that the Congress was sending in, for the formation of an alternative government at the Centre. What she heard from the other end did not encourage her into taking a bold step, it is learnt.

According to the sources, Sonia hinted that the Congress was in no hurry to form a government should the AIADMK pull down the Vajpayee ministry. She also seemed to have hinted at a possible electoral alliance with the AIADMK, rather than a coalition that could replace the BJP regime at the Centre.

For Jayalalitha, talking directly to Sonia became important as she had so far been going by what self-appointed mediators told her. The AIADMK's future was also linked to the critical decision that she would have to take, on her continued ties with the BJP.

Indications are that the Vajpayee government is getting ready to table the final report of the Jain Commission report on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination in Parliament. The final report has nearly exonerated the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham of charges of any collusion with Rajiv's killers.

This, along with the BJP's steadfast refusal to dismiss the Tamil Nadu government, could open a door to the DMK. It could also mean a few other political names could be slurred in the Rajiv case, and the angles that the Special Investigation Team of the Central Bureau of Investigation did not pursue, could be taken up afresh for investigation.

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