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AIADMK invites BJP to tea party

In a conciliatory gesture, reversing its earlier decision, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam extended an invitation to the Bharatiya Janata Party to its much-publicised tea party on Friday.

But the AIADMK's Tamil Nadu allies had not received an invitation till late on Thursday night.

The AIADMK had earlier kicked up a controversy when it decided to keep the BJP out of the tea party on the ground that it was a mainline party and hence it was not extended an invitation. A highly placed AIADMK source said an invitation was sent to BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre today.

Petroleum Minister Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy told UNI that neither he nor PMK president Dr S Ramadoss had received an invite for the meeting. Relations between the AIADMK and its Tamil Nadu allies remained strained since both Ramamurthy and Ramadoss did not call on Jayalalitha. Sources said both of them sought an appointment with her, but the meeting did not materialise till late on Thursday evening.

Earlier in the day, Jayalalitha met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and discussed the Cabinet expansion and the situation in Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalitha later called on Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani. Each meeting lasted about 45 minutes. Later in the evening, she drove down to Rashtrapati Bhavan and called on President K R Narayanan. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Defence Minister George Fernandes called on Jayalalitha separately during the course of the day.

Talking to the media after her meetings with Vajpayee and Advani, she said the law and order situation in Ramanathapuram district and other parts of Tamil Nadu figured in her talks.

Though her party's demand for dismissal of the M Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu still stood, she did not raise the issue with Advani, she said.

Advani told her the home ministry was studying the situation in Tamil Nadu, she said.

She also discussed with the home minister the reported threat from international terrorist Osama bin Laden and his proposed terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Asked about her informal get-together tomorrow with the ruling allies at the Centre, she said the need for such a meeting had been felt by leaders such as Fernandes (of the Samata Party), Badal (of the Akali Dal) and Dilip Ray of the Biju Janata Dal. She had only taken the initiative in this connection.

All the AIADMK's allies in Tamil Nadu had been asked to attend the get-together.

The Trinamul Congress has already welcomed Jayalalitha's move to hold a get-together. Its spokesperson said in Calcutta that he was happy that at least Jayalalitha has taken the initiative to hold the meeting while the BJP has not called a coordination committee meeting for several months.

UNI

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