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Women power knocked govt off its pedestal

George Iype in New Delhi

The downfall of the A B Vajpayee government was plotted by the three most powerful women in politics -- Congress president Sonia Gandhi, All India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha and Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati -- on Saturday morning.

Having made up their differences and joined hands to dislodge the BJP government at the Centre, Gandhi and Jayalalitha went into despair when they realised on Friday evening that the magic numbers in the Lok Sabha would not be in their favour.

Both Sonia and Jayalalitha also sensed that any failure in the plan to overthrow Vajpayee would be disastrous: Sonia would lose credibility as Congress president; for Jayalalitha, defeat would irrevocably lead her deep into a trap of her own making.

But as the debate on the confidence motion progressed and the BJP went on a winning spree on Friday, the Congress and AIADMK chiefs were informed that the Operation Topple could not bear fruit without their direct intervention.

Thus, early morning on Saturday, Gandhi's first phone call was to Mayawati.

Mayawati and her political mentor, BSP president Kanshi Ram had been on the horns of a dilemma over the past one week.

While they publicly announced that elections were the best course, they have been in a fix over rescuing Vajpayee by asking their five MPs to abstain.

Vajpayee deployed Human Resource Development Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi to woo Kanshi Ram and Mayawati with a deal that included two ministerial posts to the BSP. The latter agreed to the deal, but on the condition that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh be removed.

While the BJP leadership was wavering over this crucial demand from the BSP, Mayawati went public on Friday night in the Lower House with her party's stand: "We oppose the BJP as well as the Congress. Therefore, the BSP will abstain in the confidence vote."

The BJP leadership felt relieved at Mayawati's indirect support to the Vajpayee government and did not bother to get a reassurance of the BSP's favourable votes on Saturday morning.

But the Congress president's phone call made all the difference. Thus, before the Lok Sabha assembled for the crucial vote of confidence at 11 pm, Mayawati drove down to 10, Janpath and was closeted with Sonia for 30 minutes.

Congress sources said Sonia managed to convince Mayawati that it will be in the interests of both the BSP and the Congress that the Vajpayee government be voted out.

The Congress president also reportedly told the BSP leader that the coming together of women politicians like Sonia, Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee would change the face of Indian politics.

The Congress president expects Banerjee to come over to the parent party soon.

While the exact nature of the deal worked out between Sonia and Mayawati is unknown, the kingpins of the secret operation were BSP leader and MP Arif Mohamed Khan and Sonia aide and senior Congress Working Committee leader, Arjun Singh.

Khan, a former Congressman, was a close friend of Sonia's husband, the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Khan told Rediff On The Net that the BSP's decision to vote against the BJP government was taken with "conviction." "How can we meet our supporters in north India if we align with a communal government led by the BJP," he asked.

Khan added that the voting in favour of the Opposition does not automatically mean that "the BSP is joining hands with the Congress in the next coalition."

While Sonia and Mayawati virtually clinched the deal to defeat the government, Jayalalitha also used her charm and political maneuverability to woo Kanshi Ram.

Sensing that the BJP would win the trust vote by a small margin, Jayalalitha also talked to Kanshi Ram for more than 30 minutes on Saturday morning, convincing him of the need to align with the secular forces as represented by the Opposition ranks.

While many doubt the stability of the new coalition that will emerge in the coming days, they admit that the coming together of Sonia, Jayalalitha and Mayawati has lent a new image to Indian politics.

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