BJP will not toe Jaya line
N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
The Bharatiya Janata Party will rather forego its long-cherished dream of forming a government at the Centre than yield to the All Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's pressure for the 'immediate dismissal' of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham government in Tamil Nadu.
Sources say the saffron party is equally reluctant to part with 'key portfolios' which the AIADMK and its allies have been demanding.
''We are not against the use of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss a duly elected state government, if warranted,'' says a BJP leader. ''But we cannot take any step that will not stand the test of law, or of the people, particularly after our own problems in Uttar Pradesh.''
According to him, the BJP will also have problems convincing its allies, the Samata Party and the Akali Dal, given their known stand on central intervention and their long-time friendship with the DMK leadership.
Though the BJP is willing to have a 'quick look' at the Coimbatore serial blasts to see if the DMK could be fixed because of 'its laxity', if not 'complicity', the AIADMK insists that the state government should be sacked.
''We can do that only by citing the DMK's poor performance in the Lok Sabha election,'' says the source. ''But the Supreme Court has not looked kindly upon such a course in the 'Bommai case'. Anway, it would also imply the dismissal of the BJP government in Rajasthan and the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, for the same reasons.''
The urgency of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha flows from the April 1 Rajya Sabha election, and the DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress combine is bound to sweep the poll. This implies that the AIADMK would lose all the seats held by the party now, including the one held by senior leader G Swaminathan, whom Jayalalitha would like to honour with a Cabinet berth in the BJP-led government at the Centre.
''Any dismissal of the DMK government now would mean that Jayalalitha can thwart the 'clean sweep' by the DMK-TMC combine, by winning back a mandate in the assembly election,'' says a AIADMK source.
Despite the AIADMK's 'firm' stand, Jayalalitha's allies seem to have made 'fine distinctions' in it. The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazagham overshot the leader, and faxed its support letter to President K R Narayanan a few days back.
While a section of the four-member Pattali Makkal Katchi is restless that its ministerial hopes at Delhi could be thwarted by Jayalalitha's stand, other partners feel that getting into the government should be the first priority, dismissal of the DMK government and other things can follow.
''If some of us are in the government at the Centre, we can dig into the deals of the DMK-TMC ministers of the past,'' says a PMK leader. ''And then take it to the logical conclusion. We can even lay our hands on the documents pertaining to the Coimbatore blasts, and fix the political and administrative responsibility on the DMK government. That alone will help substantiate Jayalalitha's 'anti-national' charge against the DMK government, justifying the Central intervention.''
The BJP is also said to be in favour of such a course, entrusting the Coimbatore blasts case, with its national security ramifications, to the Central Bureau of Investigation. And see as to what follow-up can be done to address the AIADMK's concerns, without treading on legal toes. But the BJP is unwilling to accommodate some ambitious AIADMK alliance leaders at the senior-level in the government.
The party does not want to part with home, finance and information and broadcasting and education portfolios. The BJP is known to have told Lok Shakti chief Ramakrishna Hegde that he could not aspire for the finance portfolio even before they struck the pre-poll alliance.
Though the AIADMK seems inclined to share this view, at least to ensure that its allies would not become more powerful, it has let the impression pass that it was standing by the 'legitimate claims' of Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy and Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress chief Vazhapadi Ramamurthy.
The BJP is against the inclusion of both, and the AIADMK would let the BJP tell them so.
Elections '98
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