COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

A year of living dangerously comes to an end...

The withdrawal of support formally, to the BJP-led government at the Centre by All India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha today conforms to a pattern beginning with the formation of the government itself.

Jayalalitha delayed the submission to the President of the crucial letter of her party's support to the BJP for the formation of the government for three days from March 11 to 14 last year, following differences over the induction of Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy as finance minister. Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh airdashed to Madras and persuaded her to relent.

In April last year, differences surfaced again as she refused to attend the coordination committee after Sedapatti R Muthiah was asked to resign as surface transport minister after charges were framed by a court in Madras. She made the government drop Communications Minister Buta Singh from the cabinet but could not force the Centre to sack Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani.

In July last, angered over the Centre's failure to dismiss the Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha alleged that Home Minister L K Advani was "a security threat". Accusing Advani of having "selective amnesia", she alleged that the former had promised during the election campaign to dismiss the DMK government if the BJP-led front was voted to power.

Defence Minister George Fernandes, who was despatched to Madras to placate Jayalalitha, mollified her for the time being.

Later, in August last, she threatened of "serious consequences" if "the original Cauvery draft scheme" was not notified. Despite her objections, the Centre ensured that the Cauvery accord was reached among the riparian states.

Fernandes and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan were sent as emissaries to buy peace with Jayalaliltha who almost decided to withdraw support to the government, with the PMK and MDMK, the Janata Party and the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress, constituents of the AIADMK-led front, authorising her to take appropriate decision on the issue. But she did not carry out the threat after the allies, except Subramanian Swamy's Janata Party, declared that they would continue to support the Vajpayee government even if the AIADMK withdrew support to it.

On August 14, Fernandes again met Jayalalalitha after she alleged that a key functionary in the Prime Minister's Office had received hefty bribes from a newspaper baron for transferring Enforcement Directorate chief M K Bezbaruah. She made it clear that she was in no way connected with the transfer after media reports suggested that the Centre had transferred the official to help her and her associates.

When the prime minister's principal secretary Brajesh Mishra wrote to Jayalalitha to provide evidence to substantiate the charge, she rebuffed him by asking a junior party functionary to reply to him.

In September, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee visited Madras to attend a grand function organised by the MDMK to mark the birthday celebrations of Dravidian leader C N Annadurai, but Jayalalitha chose to avoid the prime minister and organised a parallel function at Tiruchirapalli.

As the AIADMK allies pursued an independent line, Jayalalitha disbanded the AIADMK-led front in the state.

In December, the AIADMK assumed the role of an opposition party by participating in the all-India strike sponsored by the left and other opposition parties.

In February, corruption cases against her and her associates were transferred from three special judges to other courts by the Centre in a bid to placate her but the peace was shortlived.

The dismissal of naval chief Admiral Bhagwat gave Jayalalitha a fresh handle to consistently wage war against the Centre even while being in it.

The situation hotted up in March when Jayalalitha demanded the reinstatement of Admiral Bhagwat as naval chief, a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Bhagwat-Fernandes issue and sacking of Defence Minister George Fernandes.

On April 3 this year, the AIADMK general council demanded that the Centre concede her party's three-point charter of demands for continued support. But the government rejected all her demands, resulting in Jayalalitha submitting to the President the letter of withdrawal of the support of the 18-member AIADMK group in the Lok Sabha today.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report