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Jaya may relent if 'real issues' are tackled

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

There is still meeting ground between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, if the 'real issues' are tackled, according to sources in the regional party.

"Obviously, it pertains to (AIADMK general secretary J) Jayalalitha's cases and the demand for Cabinet expansion at the Centre apart from giving our party and its leader their due in the coalition," says a senior AIADMK leader.

"Obviously, there is more to it than (Union Defence Minister George) Fernandes and (sacked navy chief Admiral Vishnu) Bhagwat," says the party leader conceding that Jayalalitha has been changing her stand on these issues over a period of time. "Her message is clear, not that the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has not understood it. They want to play politics, and we are proving, we too can."

According to him, and many others of his party, "arranging a reprieve from the court cases, either directly or indirectly, should not have been a problem. Raking up the Fernandes issue is only to highlight the different yardsticks used by the BJP leadership in handling different allies."

At least, the AIADMK leaders do not seem to think differently of the corruption cases pertaining to Jayalalitha's chief ministership and the charges made against Fernandes by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Admiral Bhagwat.

The AIADMK grouse runs deeper than that, when it comes to attitudes. "We are not getting the respect due to the second largest party in the coalition, and there is a pattern to this 'slip-up', if you can call it so."

As he points out, though the telecom tariff decision was withdrawn in Parliament after Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee made a scene. Not even a reference was made to Jayalalitha's public appeal made earlier, he says.

In this context, the AIADMK leader also refers to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not keeping his promise on Cabinet expansion, despite Jayalalitha naming her nominees in public, nearly a year back.

"We accepted him as the best prime ministerial nominee to tide over the coalition differences, not to postpone decision-making," he says. "Anyway, he did induct three BJP leaders, Jaswant Singh, Pramod Mahajan and Jagmohan, while denying our party its due."

In this context, an AIADMK member of the Lok Sabha swears by the party leadership even while feeling frustrated at not being inducted into the Cabinet, despite his name having been forwarded long back.

His is among the names being mentioned as possible fence-sitters, but says he, with loyalty oozing in every word: "Amma has done what all she could do under the circumstances. In fact, she has even demanded nine ministerial berths for the AIADMK, equalising those held by the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham-Tamil Maanila Congress combine under the United Front dispensation. It is the BJP that is denying us the chance."

AIADMK leaders also see the current political crisis as a "public display of the differences within the BJP, between the hawks and the moderates, between Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani".

Says one of them, "It's not known why Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, whom we think belongs to the Advani camp, precipitated the lingering issue by asking us to quit the government."

That way, the AIADMK leaders concede that the "Congress needs to offer a 'real solution' to the 'real problems' facing the AIADMK leadership", and refer to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar's refrain that "the law would take its course on Jayalalitha's cases" with a pinch of salt.

"That sounds familiar, having come from the BJP's mouth earlier," he says. "The Congress seems to be keen on heading a government for a mid-term election than anything else."

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