Jaya snubs Sonia, skips meet

Why the Amma did not turn up remains a mystery. However, it is apparent that she is angry and this is her own way of hitting back at the Congress.

According to one theory, Jayalalitha was incensed over senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh’s interview to Star TV in which he said those found to be corrupt, whether Laloo Prasad Yadav or Jayalalitha, should be punished.

For the record, AIADMK sources attribute Jayalalitha’s inability to join Sonia Gandhi at Villupuram the only place where they were to have a joint meeting in the State to the delay en route.Jayalalitha was to address a series of meetings in small towns on the way from Chennai to Villupuram.

However, Jayalalitha left her Chennai residence only at around 3:30 pm though she was slated to leave around 11 am to address a meeting at surburban Pallavaram at 12 noon, according to advertisements released by the party in several newspapers yesterday.

As per Saturday’s announcement, she was to address meetings in various places in Chengalpattu and Villupuram districts before reaching the Villupuram venue at 4 pm for the meeting with Sonia Gandhi. The AICC president on her part was scheduled to reach Villupuram by 4 pm, after concluding her election meeting in Tiruchi this afternoon.

There was no way Jayalalitha could reach Villupuram at 4 pm, after leaving Chennai at 3:30 pm, since the journey would take at least 3 hours. Unless she travelled in a time machine or at least a chopper.

She did neither and hit the road, addressing road-side meetings, unperturbed by the pangs of doubt in the minds ofCongress leaders.

An obvious conclusion reached by political observers was that the AIADMK camp was upset over statements by Congress leaders particularly Sonia Gandhi that the Congress was against a coalition Government and that it favoured a single-party rule. This was stressed by Sonia Gandhi again at Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu earlier in the day.

Some point to the interview given by senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh to Star TV’s Janata Ki Adalat programme. The interview is to be telecast today and excerpts were put out by the news agencies on Saturday.

Singh, in response to a question on corruption cases against Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jayalalitha, was quoted as saying that “Any accused found guilty must be punished whether it is Laloo Prasadji or Jayalalitha or anybody else. You should understand what was Vajpayee Government’s attitude towards Jayalalitha during the past one year, how on March 30, 1999, his Law Minister (AIADMK nominee M Thambidurai) tried to cover up things for her.”

When Singhwas further asked what was the guarantee that if a Congress Government came about, it would similarly not shield her, he stressed, “No, we won’t allow any such thing to happen. Whoever is the accused, if found guilty, will be punished as per law …. I can assure you anybody indulging in corruption will not get protection.”

The AIADMK camp has always felt that remarks about the corruption cases against Jayalalitha are unwarranted and amounted to casting aspersions on its leader. Jayalalitha’s public stand, as outlined at media conferences last year, was that she did not need anyone’s help to fight the corruption cases which, she says, were foisted on her. She had sought legal remedies and was confident of winning the legal battle and smashing the cases.

The TNCC tried to put on a brave face this evening. PCC president Tindivanam K Ramamurthy told reporters in Chennai that Jayalalitha spoke to Sonia Gandhi over the mobile phone and conveyed that she could not reach Villupuram in time due to the crowds enroute implying that things were alright and that there was good communication between the two leaders.

However, there is no explanation as to why Jayalalitha did not give priority to the Villupuram meeting and cancel some of her engagements en route. Or why she left after 3 pm.

Jayalalitha was said to be near Chengalpattu when she spoke to Sonia Gandhi, Ramamurthy said. He added that Sonia would come back to Tamil Nadu after September 5 and Chennai could be one of the venues. Sonia later left for New Delhi by a special aircraft. The AIADMK-Congress hopes had clearly rested on a strong joint campaign by the two women Sonia and Jayalalitha in at least half a dozen places in the crucial State. The only place identified so far for a joint meeting was Villupuram.

The Jayalalitha modus operandi today was on the lines of her boycott of visits to Tamil Nadu by Prime Minister Vajpayee or Advani. She would make sure that she was not in the State or Chennai during their visits. There was not much of anexplanation then either for her absence except in the case of the Tiruchi party meeting organised at the same time as MDMK’s rally in Chennai.

Jayalalitha is also reportedly unhappy over the way the Congress has handled the election issue in the State right from the delay in announcing its list of candidates, the resultant inability of Congress candidates to be present on the dais during her first round of campaigning and the poor organisational machinery of the national party.

Meanwhile, DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who could scarcely cover his glee over the Villupuram fiasco, commented thus: “Jayalalitha was among the first to raise the issue of her (Sonia’s) foreign origin and had vehemently opposed her election as AICC president itself. She must still be angry with Sonia Gandhi. That is why she left Sonia Gandhi waiting at Villupuram.”