BJP inches closer to majority
Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to form a minority government with the number of MPs supporting the party going up to 261.
Highly placed sources in the party revealed that the BJP's new friends have come from the North-East: two from the Arunachal Congress and an Independent from Mizoram. The other MPs supporting the saffron alliance are Congress rebel Buta Singh, Congress (Secular) MP and Union Minister Seeshram Ola, former environment minister Maneka Gandhi and four members of the Haryana Lok Dal, led by former Haryana chief minister Om Parkash Chauthala.
The party needs 12 more MPs for a simple majority in the Lok Sabha. These crucial seats to cobble up 273 MPs should come from the Telugu Desam Party.
TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu's decision to put off his trip to Delhi and postpone the United Front core committee meeting, scheduled for Thursday, is seen as an indication of Naidu's decision to remain neutral.
But the Left parties assert that the TDP will not go with the BJP; Left leaders feel Naidu will stay with the United Front.
In their efforts to retain Naidu in the Front, the Left parties are ready to distance themselves from Communist Party of India-Marxist
general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet's agenda of installing a Congress government.
Left leaders say Naidu, the UF convener, was held up in Hyderabad today, and that the UF core committee meeting will be held tomorrow in his presence.
BJP sources say they are not worried about the UF pressure on Naidu.
Naidu is clearly in a
fix. He cannot afford to support a Congress-led government as the party is the TDP's main rival in Andhra Pradesh. TDP founder and Naidu's father-in-law N T Rama Rao, in fact, had built up the party as a counter movement to Congress rule in the state.
The BJP too is not a logical ally for the TDP, considering the latter party's 14 to 20 per cent Muslim vote bank. If Naidu aligns with the BJP, he would lose the Muslim votes.
Another factor which makes Naidu reluctant is that the BJP won around 20 per cent of votes this election. To ally with a growing party would be suicidal for him as the BJP has already cut into TDP votes.
Naidu has to face the assembly election next year. So he would prefer to have the people disillusioned with the central government, in which he has no participation and win back the Hindu votes that he has lost this time.
BJP sources claim that Naidu's party will join the government. So also the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Trinamool Congress. ''Their chiefs -- J Jayalalitha and Mamata Bannerjee -- are just making noises,'' one BJP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
The BJP held a meeting at Atal Bihari Vajpayee's home with its allies, the
Akali Dal and the Samata party on Thursday.
The official meetings begin only tomorrow, with the BJP officials meeting in the morning, followed by a meeting with the allies at Vajpayee's home. The party's newly elected MPs will meet on Saturday to formally elect Vajpayee as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo meeting also met today. The party's central committee will meet tomorrow. So also the Communist Party of India's national executive.
Today's CPI-M meeting brought forth the differences in the party, with several young Politburo members and veterans like Kerala Chief Minister E K Nayanar strongly opposing Surjeet's idea of supporting a Congress-led government.
They feel the Left Front and the United Front should not make life for non-Congress governments in at least 10 states difficult by propping up a Congress government. The Young Turks are all for sitting in the Opposition.
The CPI's meetings have concluded that the Congress is divided over the issue of forming a government. And instead of keeping all its options open to stop the BJP from coming to power, the CPI now ''badly wants to keep the UF united".
Elections '98
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