Jaya's threat fails to alarm BJP
George Iype in New Delhi
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha's threat to review its support to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on the Cauvery waters issue has not alarmed the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership.
However, sensing that Jayalalitha could put the government in troubled waters on the Cauvery row, Prime Minister Vajpayee has deputed party vice-president Jana Krishnamoorthy to sort out the matter with the AIADMK supremo.
Krishnamoorthy told Rediff On The NeT that there is no truth in Jayalalitha's accusation that the government has promised to protect Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi from prosecution on the basis of the interim and final reports of the Jain Commission.
''The modified Cauvery Valley Authority with the prime minister as its chairman and the four chief ministers as members has been set up with the concurrence of all state governments,'' the BJP leader said.
The BJP leadership, he said, feels the establishment of the CVA is an
effective instrument to amicably settle the country's major inter-state water sharing dispute. ''We are sure we will be able to convince Jayalalitha about the efficacy of the new set-up and how it will benefit all the states including Tamil Nadu,'' Krishnamoorthy said.
While Krishnamoorthy will speak to Jayalalitha in an effort to
pacify her on the Cauvery issue, the BJP leadership plans to convene a meeting of its coalition partners in New Delhi immediately.
BJP sources said the prime minister does not attach much ''seriousness and importance'' to Jayalalitha's latest warning. ''She has been issuing threats of withdrawal quite frequently. We do not take them seriously now,'' a BJP leader said adding that ''strategically'' the AIADMK will not pull down from the coalition on the Cauvery issue.
Officials said the government will not submit the original draft scheme on the Cauvery waters issue before the Supreme Court on
August 12 as demanded by the AIADMK general secretary.
BJP leaders also ruled out the possibility of convening a special session of Parliament to ratify the water-sharing scheme between the four states.
''There is absolutely no need to convene Parliament to
ratify the Cauvery waters settlement,'' senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Kewal R Malkani told Rediff On The NeT.
He said Jayalalitha's allegation that the prime minister did not consult the AIADMK and its allies before or during the negotiations
''does not make much sense. The crucial issue involves the meeting between the chief ministers of the four riparian states. The government cannot take crucial decisions concerning four states after getting the concurrence from its coalition partners,'' Malkani said.
''We do not think the Cauvery issue will snowball into a major problem for the government,'' he added.
Although the BJP leadership succeeded in keeping the AIADMK quiet during the Budget session of Parliament, some party leaders feel it is time the prime minister reined in the maverick southern politician.
''We need to make peace with Jayalalitha especially in the light of the
readiness shown by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to lead a Congress-led government at the Centre,'' a BJP official remarked.
But BJP leaders are clueless how the prime minister will keep
Jayalalitha happy as her single most important demand is the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government.
The Vajpayee government has time and again stated that it cannot go beyond the constitutional and legal framework within which Article 356 has to be used to dismiss a state government.
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