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PM sees no threat to government

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

Is Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hinting at the possibility of his one-year-old coalition coming to an end?

"Our mindset is not yet such as to make the era of coalitions successful. Maybe it will take some more time," he said when asked what message he was sending out by his firm rejection of All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha's demand to reinstate ex-admiral Vishnu Bhagwat or transfer Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Asked whether Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had been assigned to talk to the Tamil Maanila Congress and the DMK in an attempt to counter Jayalalitha's suspected move to withdraw support, the prime minister said he did not want to get into mathematical calculations.

"We won the confidence vote last time by 39 votes. That is why I see no threat to my government on the floor of the House," he said. Moreover, there is no clear indication that the AIADMK will withdraw support, he pointed out.

Reacting to Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam's statement that Jayalalitha should ask ministers from her party to resign before criticising the government, he said: "That is his personal opinion." The government's opinion, he said, "is yet to be crystallised".

He saw no point in obstructing a debate in Parliament on Bhagwat's dismissal. "The demand to appoint a joint parliamentary committee before discussion in the House indicates that the Opposition is not in a position to substantiate its charges," he remarked.

The prime minister said the government did not court-martial Bhagwat because he did not want to take drastic action against the former naval chief. "Dismissal was more than enough," he quipped.

He also dismissed as baseless the reports that Bhagwat's pension had been withheld.

Vajpayee arrived in Goa from Bombay last night to attend the four-day meeting, beginning tomorrow, of the BJP national executive. He will also attend naval exercises on the INS Viraat.

BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu later confirmed that the Jayalalitha issue would figure prominently in the national executive. "We will definitely review the alliance," he said.

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