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Jaya turns the screws on Vajpayee

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha has put the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in a spot with her demand that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should send all tainted ministers packing.

This is a direct fallout of the removal of AIADMK minister Sedapatti R Muthiah, who had to relinquish the surface transport portfolio on April 8, when a chargesheet was filed against him in a Tamil Nadu court.

Though BJP has been rattled by the demand, it has been trying to play it down. So much so that the BJP even cancelled its customary media press conference, to avoid uncomfortable questions. A general secretary also made it clear that the party does not want to react to Jayalalitha's suggestion.

"The party would not officially react to the demand,'' said another leader. ''But the channels of communication have already been opened and she will be pacified. Jayalalitha is not interested in the removal of tainted ministers, just in arm-twisting the Central government into dismissing the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham government and to give the impression that Jayalalitha's writ runs in Tamil Nadu. We will play along.''

"We would be very careful with her,'' said another source. ''For, if she feels that she has lost out, she might take some extreme step. So we are trying to convince her that her needs would be fulfilled but in a way that will not seem outright unconstitutional."

The leader was referring to her demand that the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham government should be dismissed.

Sources said Jayalalitha had been asked to nominate someone of her choice for the post of Tamil Nadu governor. Such a governor, they felt, could, over the next six months or so, give an adverse report about the M Karunanidhi government, paving the way for his dismissal.

So Jayalalitha has to now find a non-Tamil who will stand by her -- as governors are usually picked from other states.

Another sop is sending a high-level team to examine the Tamil Nadu law and order situation.

Though Jayalalitha's obvious target is Union Communications Minister Buta Singh, who is facing trial in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case, her demand will also embarrass the outgoing BJP president and Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani and Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

While Advani and Joshi are chargesheeted in the Ayodhya case, others in the ministry, including Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, face corruption charges.

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