Atal8217;s win sets off realignment in Opposition

With Farooq Abdullah playing the BJP8217;s tune and Naidu formalising what was in the air for the last few days, the ruling coalition has the chance to run the nation8217;s firstright-wing government. The relief at this was writ all over Vajpayee8217;s face as MPs gheraoed him with felicitations after the result was announced at 8.53 pm.

An unexpected hassle could be Swamy who was briefly in the running for the finance minister8217;s portfolio, a dream which vanished as quickly following Jayalalitha8217;s deal with the BJP. He thus appears to be in a mood to raise contentious issues for the BJP government in keeping with his reputation of doing so all the time. For a start, Swamy has targeted Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde but more could be expected from him.

The BJP8217;s victory was obvious when TDP Lok Sabha leader Yerran Naidu announced just past 4 pm that his party would ensure that the motion of confidence was not defeated. quot;A defeat would see that the Congress gets a back door entry into power which we cannot accept,quot; Naidu said amid chaos.

That sealed Vajpayee8217;s victory but how tough it would be for him to run the government was in evidence when the Congress-led Opposition madethe treasury benches squirm during the debate which preceded the voting. The Opposition got its act together today and listed three star speakers Laloo Yadav, Jaipal Reddy and P A Sangma each of whom scored several points in the debate.

The new realignment is slowly taking shape with the third force, the UF, in danger of fading. The Congress seemed to be getting ready to take charge of the non-BJP forces leaving the BJP as its main rival leading its own group of allies, a fact noted by Hegde in his speech during the debate. quot;I am in a way happy that after 50 years, Indian politics is being gradually polarised,quot; he said.

But while the polarisation of forces is still a fair distance away, the country has a strong Opposition in place after the UF8217;s two prime ministers ruled for a brief while each. The numbers game is down to single digits and with Laloo, Mayawati, Sangma, Sharad Pawar, Jaipal reddy, Ram Vilas Paswan hovering in the Opposition benches, the BJP can anticipate troubled times ahead.

First cameLaloo in his own style for an hour, followed by Jaipal Reddy for 34 minutes and lastly Sangma for 35 minutes, all of them more than repaying what Mamata Banerjee and George Fernandes inflicted on the Opposition yesterday. Calling Fernandes the quot;best political blacksmithquot; he has ever known, Laloo moved on to Hegde, Vajpayee, the RSS and finally the BJP8217;s Hindutva plank having everybody present in bouts of mirth.

Laloo ridiculed the concept of a temple at Ayodhya and asked the BJP why they failed to talk of Mount Kailash and Mansarovar which fall in China8217;s territorial area. quot;Hindus need a permit to go there,quot; Laloo jibed at Vajpayee. At times it did look like Laloo forgot he was in Parliament but the point was made in his inimitable fashion.

Jaipal Reddy scored a direct hit wondering why the BJP didn8217;t have even a single OBC member from Hindi speaking areas in its Cabinet. This pushed Advani and Sushma Swaraj into a fast confabulation before they realised Reddy was right.

Denied the Speaker8217;s post by theBJP, Sangma got back by citing several areas of the ruling combine8217;s national agenda which were quot;ambiguousquot; and hinted at a hidden agenda. His last point was a home run in baseball parlance.

He told Vajpayee: quot;Today, I have discovered that you are a great political engineer and mathematician. I don8217;t know if this goes well with your reputation. Last time, you lost the confidence vote and won the people8217;s confidence. This time you will win the vote but lose the people8217;s confidence.quot;

Cong plan foiled: Naidu

Speaking to newsmen immediately after the Vajpayee won the trust vote in the Lok Sabha tonight, the Chief Minister said that the TDP8217;s support to the BJP would, however, be based on issues. He once again ruled out Telugu Desam joining the Vajpayee government.

quot;We could not have abstainedfrom voting as it was a very close race. The TDP has the political compulsion to block the Congress from gaining power,quot; Naidu explained. The Chief Minister faced a volley of questions on whether the TDP8217;s support to BJP would be from outside, issue-based or conditional.

quot;You can interpret whichever way you like. All that I can say is that the Telugu Desam would support good decisions and oppose the wrong ones,quot; was Naidu8217;s reply.

Naidu explained that he had directed the party MPs to vote in favour of the confidence motion only after a quot;critical analysisquot; of the developments at the national level. Right from the beginning, the TDP had been saying that it would not take any step which would directly or indirectly benefit the Congress, he pointed out.

The TDP president denied that he had secured any assurances from Vajpayee before deciding to support the confidence vote. quot;Interests of the state are primary to me and I shall maintain relations which should exist between the Central Government and a StateGovernment,quot; he remarked.

Conceding that the Telugu Desam has differences with the BJP on certain aspects, Naidu, however, pointed out that the BJP too had dropped contentious issues from its agenda.

quot;Why should anyone think from now itself that the Centre will take bad decisions?quot; he countered when asked what the TDP would do if it was not satisfied with the policies of Vajpayee government.

The decision to vote in favour of the confidence motion was taken after two lengthy sessions of the TDP politburo last night and again this morning.