BJP's patience runs out, Jaya on the way out of coalition
George Iype in New Delhi
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha's persistent threats to pull down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government may have finally boomeranged on her.
A campaign to oust the AIADMK from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition has
picked up momentum. BJP leaders and its other allies now want Prime Minister Vajpayee either to sack the AIADMK as an ally or remove its ministers as a retaliatory measure.
While the BJP national executive, which began its meeting in Jaipur on Friday, is
likely to finalise a decision on its maverick south Indian partner, the Congress party's reluctance to accept the AIADMK with its many demands has put Jayalalitha in a quandary.
BJP sources said Jayalalitha's frequent threats to withdraw support to the nearly five-month old government has forced the party leadership to woo other regional parties like the DMK into the coalition.
"The Vajpayee government is secure and stable and it will survive the
daily quarrels which Jayalalitha has picked up with the BJP. But we are now
concerned about the fate of the AIADMK," Dilip Ray, Union minister for coal and
Biju Janata Dal leader told Rediff On The NeT.
He said every coalition government has difficulties and problems. ''But
when a coalition partner consistently threatens to break up the government on
silly grounds, the prime minister is left with no option but to sack the
partner," the minister added.
The prime minister is said to have held back the crucial expansion of his
council of ministers this week in order to ensure a final decision on the AIADMK.
Many in the coalition believe the ministerial expansion will now take place after
Jayalalitha's party is ousted from government.
Though BJP leaders concede that life without the AIADMK's support
will be tough, sources said the party has already made "arrangements" to survive in power without Jayalalitha and her demands.
To begin with, the BJP has nearly succeeded in wooing the DMK to support and partake in
the government if and when Jayalalitha leaves the coalition.
Similarly, the BJP has also attempted to split the AIADMK and its
allies from the state. The three AIADMK allies -- Vaiko of the MDMK,
Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy of the Tamil Nadu Rajiv Congress and Dr S Ramadoss of the
PMK -- are on the verge of abandoning Jayalalitha to save the Vajpayee
government.
Political observers now expect not the fall of the Vajpayee government, but a
shake-up within the BJP coalition wherein new partners will replace the AIADMK.
Jayalalitha's moves to join hands with a proposed Congress-led
government have barely taken off thanks to the tough stance taken by both the
AIADMK chief as well as Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
While the Congress has shown abundant goodwill to Jayalalitha and
hardened its position on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, party sources
insist that "both the Ammas are on different wavelengths on a number of
issues."
Sonia wants Jayalalitha to pull down the Vajpayee government and then discuss
the modalities of joining a Congress-led coalition. Jayalalitha is unwilling
to withdraw support to the BJP government till Sonia gives her a solemn promise
on a set of demands like Karunanidhi's dismissal and also
the portfolios she needs in a Congress-led government.
Sensing Jayalalitha's unhappiness with the negotiation process and aware that the Congress may be forced to do business with the AIADMK, Sonia is likely
to send a team of senior party leaders to Madras to negotiate with
Jayalalitha.
Last week, Sonia sent two party leaders -- Janardhan Reddy and Jagdish
Tytler -- to talk to Jayalalitha. But the Congress president's choice
of two political lightweights infuriated the AIADMK chief and she refused to see
the duo.
In Jaipur today, BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said there was no threat to the Vajpayee government, irrespective of the charges of corruption levelled by Jayalalitha.
Thakre asserted that the AIADMK chief had made no specific
allegations warranting action. Trinamul Congress leader Mamta
Banerjee was ''correct'' in saying that whatsoever differences the
allies had should be discussed at the coordination committee
meeting, he said.
Each and every issue should not be made public before it was
discussed at coordination committee meetings and the ''coalition
partners should appreciate that basic concept of mutual trust and
understanding."
''The government has not come to a dead-end,'' the BJP chief said,
emphasising that it would continue in office.
Additional reporting: UNI
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