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Karthikeyan-Jaya meet seen as a precursor to Congress-AIADMK talks

D R Karthikeyan, former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, had a 100-minute meeting with J Jayalalitha, chief of the All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam, on July 8 at her Poes Garden residence.

No official explanation was forthcoming, but insiders claim that the former top cop was sent as an emissary by the Congress ''to study the mood and methods of Jayalalitha''.

It is learnt that he discussed the final report of the Justice Milap Chand Jain Commission with reference to political parties and leaders from Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalitha also reportedly referred to some alleged atrocities of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its state government, which infringed upon the civil rights of her partymen.

According to these sources, Karthikeyan, who is considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, ''came to read Jayalalitha's mind'' without either committing the Congress or its president Sonia Gandhi to anything. ''It also helped Jayalalitha to assess the Congress mood independent of some self-appointed emissaries and go-betweens."

The Congress is said to be also using the good offices of a Madras-based veteran intelligence analyst, who is close to the AIADMK leadership, for "mood assessment missions". The idea is not necessarily to facilitate an alliance between the two parties, but to give a frank assessment of the overall situation in Tamil Nadu.

The ''Karthikeyan mission'' was thus one in a possible series. According to sources, a section of the AIADMK leadership is not averse to an AIADMK-Congress alliance, in the company of the dalit-strong Puthiya Thamizhagam of S Krishnaswamy. ''Indications are that Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Kanshi Ram may be pressed in to bringing around PT, though there are no ties between the PT and BSP as of now.''

However, there is some resistance within the AIADMK, particularly to joining hands with Puthiya Thamizhagam, or any other dalit organisation. A section of the anti-dalit Thevar lobby is said to have expressed itself openly against any such move, now or later. The Thevars constitute a loyal vote bank of the AIADMK. Sasikala Natarajan, the live-in confidante of Jayalalitha, comes from that community.

Should a Congress-AIADMK tie-up materialise, the current alliance led by Jayalalitha will have to collapse. While the Pattali Makkal Katchi, ally of the AIADMK, has reservations about Jayalalitha's reported offer of including them in the new alliance, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is bound to stay out.

Observers say the Congress and the AIADMK might then use the Jain Commission Report against the DMK and the MDMK. Karthikeyan is currently heading the investigation team of the National Human Rights Commission. He also led the Special Investigation Team of the CBI that probed the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.

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