Fernandes: Defending Govt from allies

Fernandes was summoned to the PM’s residence this evening and asked to head the committee on Udham Singh Nagar. He was deputed to receive Jayalalitha, with whom he has struck up a rapport, at the airport tonight. They are also to meet separately tomorrow, on the eve of Cabinet expansion and the Coordination Committee meeting.

Fernandes’ main plus point, as far as allies are concerned, is that he does not belong to the BJP whose big brotherly attitude has ruffled many feathers. As a Samata Party leader, he is seen as someone who has the interests of thegovernment — and not the BJP — at heart.

On the other hand, he is perceived to enjoy the confidence of the PM so that any issue or grievance can be conveyed through him. For the BJP, constantly buffetted by demanding allies, Fernandes’ initiative in resolving crises has come as a godsend.

Besides Jayalalitha, he has also established good relations with Mamata Banerjee, another temperamental ally. Fernandes makes it a point to meet allies in the course of his official trips. If it’s Calcutta, it’s Mamata; when in Chennai, he calls on Jayalalitha.

Fernandes endeared himself to the BJP when he publicly dropped his party’s demand for the dismissal of the Bihar government at a time when Jayalalitha was calling for the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government and threatening to withdraw support otherwise.

Since July, Fernandes has rushed to Chennai three times — whenever Jayalalitha threatened to withdraw support — and succeeded in pacifying her. In August, he went there twice when the Cauvery issuethreatened to blow up in the government’s face. And in September, he met Jayalalitha simply to keep channels of communication open and to dispel her feeling of isolation in the coalition.

“Jayalalitha has been feeling embattled, that other allies have ganged up against her. George Fernandes keeps in telephonic contact with her. She feels that there is someone who is discussing things with her at the political level,” says a Samata Party leader.

Jaswant Singh, who had earlier succeeded in soothing Jayalalitha, is now busy with foreign affairs. And other BJP leaders are in Jayalalitha’s bad books. She accused L K Advani of “selective amnesia” over the TN government dismissal issue. Pramod Mahajan fell from grace over the M K Bezbaruah episode (Jayalalitha referred to Mahajan as “any Tom, Dick or Harry”).

Ironically, it is Fernandes, who had originally decided not to join the Cabinet, who is practically the only person she communicates freely with.