Jaya-Bjp Spat Keeps Govt On Edge

The antagonists of the Vajpayee government yesterday began talk of bringing it down sooner than later even as the sniping between AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha and the BJP leadership snowballed into an open war of words between ministers loyal to the southern leader and some cabinet colleagues.

Late yesterday, the Prime Ministers Office attempted to play down the controversy saying it was nothing much and that things would be sorted out. The last public war within a cabinet was sparked off in the period leading to the fall of the Morarji Desai government.

Law minister M Thambidurai and other AIADMK ministers issued a public statement yesterday, strongly condemning their cabinet colleagues Ram Jethmalani and Ramakrishna Hegde for their sharp criticism of Jayalalitha on Wednesday. She had earlier demanded the removal of all ministers facing criminal charges.

 

Jayalalithas demand was given a sharper spur by the Supreme Court. A division bench yesterday ordered that communication minister Buta Singh, along with former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and some others, be prosecuted on the charge that they had bribed JMM MPs to vote for the Rao government in 1993. ( Details on Page 2)

If Buta Singh resigns, the focus will shift to senior BJP leaders home minister L K Advani and human resources development minister M M Joshi. The two BJP heavyweights are under trial for criminal conspiracy to demolish the Babri mosque in 1992.

Jayalalithas ally, Subramanian Swamy, wrote to Vajpayee yesterday, asking him to sack Advani if the latter did not resign on his own.

Advani has been accused of a conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid, which is a crime against humanity and a national shame, said Swamy. This was far more serious than the crime for which the AIADMKs R Muthaiah had resigned, he added.

Jayalalithas demand, arising out of Muthaiahs resignation a few days ago after a court framed charges against him, has left Advani and Joshi in a shaky position. The BJP has argued that the cases related to mosque demolition are political in nature. However, Buta Singh could apply the same argument to the JMM case.

Unless Advani and Joshi resign, there are indications that the Congress, the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and smaller groups such as the Bahujan Samaj Party could come together during the budget session to try and form an alternate government, backed by the 27 MPs loyal to Jayalalitha. Swamy is among the chief tacticians.

An aide of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee said the problem with the AIADMK would be sorted out. As far as the trickier issue of the Supreme Court order on Buta Singh and its possible fallout is concerned, he said it was a 600-page order which legal experts were examining in detail. Vajpayee was slated to return to Delhi late last night from his day-long tour to Orissa.

The Congress yesterday added its voice to the chorus of demands that all ministers facing charges must resign. The party said there was no difference between corruption and other charges. The distinction is without any difference and a chargesheet is a chargesheet, irrespective of the offense, said the party spokesperson. He refused to comment on the SC order that Rao be prosecuted.

Public statements by Thambidurai, R Janathanan (minister of state for personnel) and R K Kumar (minister of state for finance) yesterday were calculated to up the ante against the BJP, though their immediate targets were Hegde and Jethmalani. It will be in the interest of the coalition government if these ministers refrain from making any such remarks that will only expose them in the eyes of the general public and endanger the coalition government, read the statement.

Jayalalitha has named Hegde as being rude to her and her ally V K Ramamurthy during discussions among the coalition partners over a minimum programme a few days before the new government took office.

Hegde and Jethmalanis remarks were not only unwarrranted, unjustified and uncalled for, but also not befitting the stature of a minister of a government that was formed only because the 27 Tamil MPs joined the government, the statement said.

It condemned Jethmalanis vituperative language, particularly his remark that some people, when they come out of jail, become humble, chastened and responsible, but some others, when they emerge from jail, become arrogant and irresponsible and cannot distinguish between right and wrong.