Jaya puts the kettle on

Jayalalitha has made a fine ceremony out of the BJP's discomfiture. On Monday, she reduced the government to the status of a tea bag whic...

Jayalalitha has made a fine ceremony out of the BJP’s discomfiture. On Monday, she reduced the government to the status of a tea bag which she proceeded, with characteristic insouciance, to dunk into her cup of hot water. The brew was clearly to her liking. Overcome by the moment, she described it as a “political earthquake”.

But why is the lady so keen to move the ground beneath her feet? Like the Iftaar parties that Delhi’s political class is so addicted to, the political significance of Subramanian Swamy’s tea party went far beyond the mere fact that it took place. The presence of almost the entire top brass of the opposition, topped with the fleeting presence of the Congress president herself, could be the harbinger of a radical realignment of political forces. In case this fact was lost sight of, Jayalalitha underlined it with her seemingly innocent observation that “this country was always in a state of political flux…”

But what is the AIADMK secretary’s gameplan? This was the questionpolitical analysts were grappling with the morning after the evening before. Why should she suddenly find the company of a woman, whom she had just a year ago attacked for being a foreigner and quite unsuitable for national leadership, so desirable? The answer is obvious.

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It is only by courting the Congress that she can raise her stock, both within the present government and nationally. At the moment the AIADMK, with its 18 MPs, is in the enviable position of being the single bridge to power. Without the party, the BJP-led government collapses. Without the party, a future Congress-led one cannot take shape. It is this that makes Jayalalitha so confident, so imperious, so seemingly whimsical.

This accounts for the rough treatment she metes out to her senior partners in government and this also accounts for the carefully calibrated cordiality that she now displays towards Sonia Gandhi. But no one must be left in any doubt that even as Jayalalitha mouths her concern for the nation, it is her own intereststhat have always been and continue to be paramount. She hinted at this quite openly in her Press statements.

Touching on the issue of a possible expansion of the Vajpayee cabinet, she indicated that she had handed in her proposals and now hopes that the prime minister will make the necessary announcement soon. Then, of course, there are those vexatious cases — they have now, through the quirk of political circumstance, become not just Jayalalitha’s burden, but the BJP’s as well.

What about the other lady at the tea party? Sonia Gandhi has always thrived, politically speaking, on riddles. The tremendous speculation over whether she would or she would not attend Swamy’s kept the chattering classes occupied for at least a week before the actual occasion. The fact that she did, finally, make it even though it was just a guest appearance of ten minutes, was the first clear signal that she and her party are not averse to a possible political partnership with the AIADMK some time in the future. Jaya, like Pollyin the familiar nursery rhyme, has put the kettle on. It could soon start to boil.