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Journalism of Courage
It came close to being a Boston tea-party of disaffected allies whose pursuit of more berths in the Union government had been stymied twice over by a much harassed Prime Minister. In the event, after Jayalalitha was persuaded to invite the BJP to tea, it turned out to be a fairly innocuous precursor to a coordination committee meeting of the ruling coalition. But Jayalalitha and company can claim to have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. All-in meetings of allies are a rarity 8212; perhaps no more than three have been held since the Vajpayee government came to power. By arranging for once-a-month meetings of the coordination committee, leaders of the alliance can hope to play a bigger role in government decision-making. Under the energetic George Fernandes, the new convenor, the time-table is sure to be kept. However it is an open question whether the process will lead to more purposeful governance and less brinkmanship.
For the BJP, this development may be a blessing in disguise. It has preferred thusfar to restrict its consultations with its allies to the ministerial level and even that level of interaction has been far too limited for its allies8217; taste or for the purposes of smooth decision- making. Contentious matters arising time and again have compelled meetings between the BJP and one or other disgruntled ally, AIADMK, Trinamul Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal or other. But the BJP has avoided coordination committee meetings. This is partly because of the fear that the whole business of government would be seized up by impossible demands from and irreconcilable differences between the motley members of the coalition. The other reason is the Big Brother-knows-best syndrome. Now that regular coordination committee meetings have been thrust on it, the BJP has to find some way of turning it to good purpose. Ignoring the committee is no longer an option.
