Jaya strikes again

It needs no political punditry to predict periodical about-turns by Jayalalitha and her party. The country has indeed come to expect by n...

It needs no political punditry to predict periodical about-turns by Jayalalitha and her party. The country has indeed come to expect by now periodic entertainment of this unedifying kind. No surprise will, therefore, be caused by her latest announcements. It was not long ago that a report about the party pronouncing the AIADMK-led front as dead was denied vehemently, and it was only on the eve of the current session of Parliament that she sneered at quot;mischievousquot; speculation about the AIADMK quitting the BJP-led coalition at the national level and reiterated her party8217;s continued support for the Vajpayee government. She has now declared the Tamil Nadu front8217;s demise 8212; traced back to the end of the Lok Sabha elections, as she taunts erstwhile allies about trying to keep it verbally alive. Her faithful flock will join the Bharat bandh of December 11 8212; even if that means being on the same side of the barricades as arch-foe Karunanidhi8217;s DMK. The credibility factor may have militated against treating thestatements as a more serious threat than any in the entire series. The context, however, makes them a pointer to moves for a political realignment. One that cannot be more contemptuous of the people8217;s mandate.

They would appear an unmistakable pointer, in other words, to moves for the revival of an AIADMK-Congress alliance. Jayalalitha, who has remained grimly silent over the public resolves by former state-level allies the MDMK of V. Gopalasamy, the PMK of P. Ramadoss, and the Tamil Nadu Rajiv Congress of Vazhapadi Rama-murthy to stay with the BJP even in the event of the AIADMK8217;s exit from the coalition, has acknowledged that doors are being kept open for a dialogue and a deal with the Congress. Recent Assembly election results may have revived dreams in the AIADMK of an enduring pact between the parties, the kind envisaged in the days of M. G. Ramachan-dran, while the Congress just back from the brink of extinction may be contemplating less than a long-term contract. The two have clearly commonpositions on Article 356 and the unacceptability of the DMK in elected office. Neither may be bothered by the fact that they have no shared agenda apart from such a design against norms of democracy. Jay-alalitha has spoken about hers being a quot;sought-after partyquot; but it is her statements that amount to an overture to the Congress.

The opportunism of the realignment being attempted cannot be more obvious, particularly to voters who remember the AIADMK leader8217;s poll campaign and her recommendation of the BJP8217;s rule at the Centre for a quot;stable government and able leadershipquot;. But, even more, her specially targeted attacks on Sonia Gandhi, her repeated references to the issue of a quot;foreignerquot; being projected as the prospective leader of India. Added to it all is the unconcealed opportunism of her observations about the claims of the AIADMK to Union Cabinet posts. These not only question the Prime Minister8217;s prerogative to choose his own Cabinet, but quote the price for continued support for the coalition rule.How credibly can the BJP complain now, after being enticed into an incompatible alliance by short-term considerations?