Bjp Plays Down Jaya Threat

The Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday tried to put up a brave face despite AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha's threat of reviewing her party's support to the government on the Cauvery river water tribunal's interim award.

She has demanded that the award be notified by tomorrow.

"We have taken Jayalalitha's statement seriously. We are confident that Prime Minister A B Vajapyee will talk to her and resolve the issue," Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson K L Sharma said.

Referring to Jayalalitha's threat, he said similar threats were issued by the Akali Dal and the Samata Party too.

None of these parties have either blamed the Prime Minister or withdrawn support to the government, he pointed out. "Bharatiya Janata Party 's allies are intact and the government is intact," he said.

However, some party leaders privately admitted that the situation could turn serious this time as the government was not likely to concede Jayalalitha's demand after discussing the issue with Chief Ministers of the states that claim rights on the Cauvery waters.

These leaders suspected that Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and the Congress could be behind Jayalalitha's new threat.

They also calculated that not all allies of the AIADMK would support her if she tried to pull down the government.

In such a situation, the DMK with its six Lok Sabha members was likely to support the Vajpayee government, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.