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BJP not worried about PMK move

The Bharatiya Janata Party is not overly concerned about the reported moves of the Vanniar-strong Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) to cross over to the rival AIADMK-Congress combine in Tamil Nadu.

"It will not affect equations at the Centre and it is for the DMK leader of the coalition in the state to assess the impact on the assembly polls and initiate remedial measures," said a BJP source.

"There is no threat to the stability of the Vajpayee Government," said the source, referring to the PMK's reported moves to withdraw from the National Democratic Alliance, in time for the assembly elections.

"However, we would not like any ally to withdraw. Genuine grievances can always be cleared but there is no cure for perceived threats. If individual NDA partners decide to chart out a separate course, we cannot stop them."

According to him, NDA partners like the Trinamul Congress and allies like the Telugu Desam Party have been convinced about Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's controversial statement on an equally controversial issue like Ayodhya.

"Compared to this, the PMK's doubts and suspicions are non-starters. If someone thought that they could upset the apple-cart at the Centre by wooing parties like the PMK, they should think twice. The TINA [there is no alternative] factor is still at work for Vajpayee. The Opposition is badly divided and none have the BJP's courage to face the electorate another time."

However, the Tamil Nadu issue is different, concedes this leader. "Here, equations mainly involve the ruling DMK leader of the BJP-NDA and the PMK. The BJP is only a minor player and as such has no significant role to play in easing tension between the two. The PMK has to go to the DMK to sort out differences. Even then, Vajpayee has always found time for PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, whenever he sought an appointment, and heard him out in full. His problems are political, involving the DMK, and neither the BJP nor the prime minister can be seen as taking sides."

DMK sources said that Ramadoss was raising the stakes in time for the assembly polls. "With the DMK and AIADMK tied, parties like the PMK and Tamil Maanil Congress feel they have a better bargaining power. But the PMK seems to have forgotten that the party's self-respect call did not sell as well in last year's Lok Sabha polls, as it may have done a year earlier. That being the case, even the PMK's unexpected gains of the 1998 Lok Sabha polls should be attributed only to the Coimbatore serial blasts and not the perceived charisma of Ramadoss."

For the BJP and DMK, the PMK is an over-confident ally, whose perceived suspicions and projected ambitions seem to be feeding each other. If anything, said the DMK leader, "it is allies like the DMK or even the AIADMK who need to be wary of the PMK's claims, suspicions and actions. If the AIADMK has no alternative but to yield, the DMK is not as desperate, for us to yield all our ground in the northern stronghold that we now share with the PMK."

Likewise, the MGR-ADMK partner in the NDA may have been influenced by personal ambitions of party founder and former state minister S Thirunavukkarasu, sources claimed. "Both are upset over Thirunavukkarasu not being accommodated in the Vajpayee Government and the DMK not arguing his case with the BJP leadership. A shrewd politician, if he rejoins the AIADMK, he may be anticipating a prison term for Jayalalitha, for him to try and hijack the party all over again. He had tried doing that before the 1996 assembly polls, when her stars were obviously dipping and some people even anticipated Jayalalitha quitting politics. But she got wiser after the polls and showed him the door."

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