Blow for blow

Published : Aug 29, 1998 00:00 IST

Is the AIADMK biding its time to deliver a 'knock-out blow' to the BJP, which has succeeded to an extent in isolating Jayalalitha's party from its allies in Tamil Nadu?

IN politics, as in pugilism, Jayalalitha said, the "knock-out blow" would come only in the end. Nothing summed up the combative nature of the relationship between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party more succinctly than the boxing metaphor employed by the AIADMK general secretary on August 10. Addressing a press conference in Chennai, she warned that her party would review its support to the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government if it failed to notify the original draft scheme for implementing the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's Interim Award.

Over the next 10 days, the AIADMK leader administered several more body blows to the BJP, which virtually had the Vajpayee Government out for the count. The survival instinct, however, kept it hanging on in the ring, and the BJP even managed to throw in a couple of counterpunches, feeble though they were. By the last week of August, both combatants had retreated to their corners and were towelling themselves up; to most observers, it seemed abundantly clear that the bout would not last more than a few more rounds.

One reason why the AIADMK did not administer the "knock-out blow" this time around was presumably that Jayalalitha did not receive any concrete signal from Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi regarding the formation of a coalition government if the AIADMK pulled out of the Vajpayee Government.

On the other hand, the BJP had succeeded to an extent in isolating the AIADMK from its allies in Tamil Nadu. Dr. S. Ramadoss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Vaiko of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthi of the Tamilaga Rajiv Congress (TRC) made it plain to Jayalalitha that they would continue to support the Vajpayee Government. Only Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, another ally of the AIADMK, was keen on pulling down the BJP-led Government.

The Cauvery issue, over which a confrontation erupted on August 10, lay submerged for a while in a flood of other allegations and counter-allegations between the AIADMK and the BJP over the transfer of the Director of the Enforcement Directorate, M.K. Bezbaruah, Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Revenue Secretary N.K. Singh and other top officials.

On August 16, Jayalalitha wrote to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee demanding that the transfers be reversed. In a statement released the same day, she alleged that the owners of a "well-known group of publications" had paid "hefty bribes to persons very close to the Prime Minister's office to get Mr. Bezbaruah transferred out of the E.D." She condemned the "cunning attempt" to make it appear that the transfers had been effected to placate her since some of her close associates are facing investigations by the E.D. for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. According to Jayalalitha, there was "no connection whatsoever between me" and the transfer of Bezbaruah, N.K. Singh and Ahluwalia, but she was made a "scapegoat" in the transfers. She said when George Fernandes and Pramod Mahajan called on her: "I did not broach any subject other than the Cauvery river water issue."

"(The newspaper owners) cleverly exploited the present situation to their advantage by making it appear that I had demanded Bezbaruah's transfer and achieved their objective by pinning the blame on me," she said.

The next day, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, wrote to Jayalalitha to request her to produce "all evidence" in respect of her allegation appearing in the newspapers that "hefty bribes" were paid to "persons very close to the Prime Minister" to get Bezbaruah transferred out.

In response, P. Mahalingam, executive secretary at the AIADMK headquarters (in effect, the office manager), wrote to Mishra on August 19 demanding an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into "the furious lobbying" by a newspaper group for Bezbaruah's transfer. Mahalingam said: "Such an inquiry will reveal the motives behind the shifting of an upright officer more than two years before his tenure was completed." Mahalingam said that Vajpayee had written to Prime Minister I.K. Gujral and made serious allegations against the newspaper group and demanded a probe.

The fact that Jayalalitha had got a party official to respond to Mishra was perceived as an intended slight; Jayalalitha was evidently "getting even" with Vajpayee for having got Mishra to respond to her letter to the Prime Minister.

TAMIL NADU Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has reasons to be delighted with the turn of events. If Jayalalitha had planned to use the Cauvery Agreement of August 7, brokered by Vajpayee, to target Karunanidhi politically, it did not happen. The rumpus over Bezbaruah's transfer diverted the focus. Also, there was not much political headway in the matter of the Jain Commission's Final Report and the Action Taken Report, which Jayalalitha was hoping to use to target Karunanidhi. (In fact, in a significant move, Home Minister L.K. Advani said in a letter released in Chennai by former Union Minister and Karunanidhi's nephew 'Murasoli' Maran on August 24 that the inclusion of Karunanidhi's name in the ATR was an "inadvertent error". This was seen as an act that would widen further the AIADMK-BJP rift.)

The August 7 agreement to set up a Cauvery River Authority and a monitoring committee to oversee the sharing of waters by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka was generally welcomed in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK, the PMK, the MDMK and the Janata Party, however, rejected the agreement. Their demand was that the original draft scheme of May 1997, which they argued was much more favourable to Tamil Nadu, should be notified in the Central gazette before August 12. The Supreme Court had given the Centre time till August 12 to resolve the issues relating to the Interim Award, which gave 205 tmc ft of water to Tamil Nadu.

On August 10, Jayalalitha said at a press conference that "we will review the question of support" to the BJP-led Government if it did not gazette the original draft scheme before August 12. The Government, however, went ahead and notified the new scheme on August 11.

The BJP leadership, after stating that no attempt would be made to pacify Jayalalitha, despatched George Fernandes and Pramod Mahajan to Chennai on August 12. Mahajan was sent because Jayalalitha wanted a BJP leader to accompany Fernandes, who belongs to the Samata Party. Jaswant Singh, who had come twice earlier on trouble-shooting missions, declined to go this time. Advani was apparently not in a mood to talk to her on the phone after her earlier critical remarks about him.

Informed sources said that Jayalalitha was deeply suspicious of Mahajan for his having reportedly blocked an inquiry into Sun TV (owned by Kalanidhi Maran, son of Murasoli Maran). Mahajan had also reportedly approached Murasoli Maran to secure the DMK's support to form a BJP Government after the fall of the Deve Gowda Government in 1997.

Fernandes and Mahajan were unnerved by the sort of reception they got at Jayalalitha's Poes Garden residence on August 12. She did not meet them but reportedly railed at them on the intercom. She asked Mahajan whether he had to come to Poes Garden by mistake when he should really be in Gopalapuram (where Maran lives in Chennai). She told Fernandes that the BJP did not consult her on the Cauvery issue but had presented her with a fait accompli. Fernandes and Mahajan went away, but came back late in the afternoon, by which time Jayalalitha had mellowed a bit. The Cauvery issue dominated the discussion, and she repeatedly stressed that the BJP had let her down and allowed Karunanidhi to walk away with the honours.

The same night, Vazhapadi Rama-murthi and Ramadoss met Vajpayee in New Delhi. Ramamurthi tersely told journalists: "There is no crisis."

While Jayalalitha was adamant that the AIADMK should withdraw support to the BJP-led Government, her allies Ramadoss, Vaiko and Ramamurthi counselled patience, pointing out that any precipitate action on the eve of Independence Day - when Vajpayee was to hoist the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort - would tarnish the country's image. The three leaders also told her that their parties would continue to support the BJP Government if she withdrew support. Only Subramanian Swamy sided with her.

Talking to presspersons, Rama-murthi, however, said that they had "unanimously authorised" Jayalalitha to take "an appropriate decision at an appropriate time." Ramamurthi pointedly added: "There is no question of withdrawal of Ministers as of now."

The same day (August 13), the Centre announced the "repatriation" of Bezbaruah to the Delhi Government.

Fernandes met Jayalalitha again on August 14 evening, after reportedly waiting in a military guest house throughout the day. But during that time, he met Ramadoss, who drove up from Tindivanam. Fernandes said he had "very good and useful talks" with Jayalalitha and was going back "quite satisfied". He denied that there was any kind of crisis. The same day, N.K. Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and a host of other top officers were transferred, again leading to speculation that the transfers were effected to placate Jayalalitha.

Jayalalitha was prompt in her denial: "... There are no FERA cases against me, and I am in no way involved with the recent transfers of officers of the Central Government." She said that there were "inspired reports" that Bezbaruah was vigorously pursuing several FERA cases against her, that she demanded his transfer when Fernandes and Mahajan met her, and that "I threatened to withdraw support to the Government along with my allies if this demand was not fulfilled." She demanded the reinstatement of Bezbaruah because Union Minister of State for Personnel and Revenue R. Janarthanan of the AIADMK was not consulted on the issue. On August 18, she demanded a CBI inquiry into Bezbaruah's transfer.

Fernandes too denied that Bezbaruah's transfer figured in his talks with Jayalalitha. He recalled that "for several months now, a newspaper-chain proprietor has used whole pages of his newspaper to campaign against this upright officer." Fernandes added: "I took no package from the Prime Minister to Ms. Jayalalitha on both days. Nor was there any demand made by her on the Prime Minister during my meetings with her." The Cauvery accord, issues pertaining to the functioning of the Government and relations between the coalition partners figured in the discussions, he said. And he was not kept waiting by Jayalalitha, he claimed.

The war of words escalated when Mahalingam alleged in his letter to Brajesh Mishra that there was "frequent interaction of the impugned group's senior personnel with a gentleman who was till recently part of the PMO. Such close interaction with those facing serious charges which are under investigation naturally leads to adverse inferences." He added: "What is worse, an individual very close to the Prime Minister has had meetings with the Corporate Director of this group." The next day, Mahajan dared her to name him as the person to whom "hefty bribes" had been paid, and face legal action.

Jayalalitha's foremost worry now is to keep her alliance with the PMK, the MDMK and the TRC intact. A BJP leader summed up the present situation thus: "The period of reconciliation with Jayalalitha is over. It is now a question of whether she wants to pull out of the coalition in grace or disgrace."

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