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Journalism of Courage
The more relevant aspect of the issue regarding the foreign origins of Sonia Gandhi, which Jayalalithaa has raked up suddenly, is why she has done it at this point. After all, Sonia Gandhi has been in active politics for over four years now and Jayalalithaa has supped with her on more than one occasion. She had an alliance with Sonia8217;s party in the last assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. She brought down Vajpayee8217;s government in 1999 by one vote with Sonia8217;s help, and it will take a long time to live down the famous tea party arranged for the two women at Delhi8217;s Ashok Hotel. The Congress has made public her letter to then president, K.R. Narayanan, in which she extended her party8217;s support to 8216;a government to be formed by the CongressI led by Sonia Gandhi8217;.
Jayalalithaa is now making a distinction between her support to 8216;the Congress8217;, which happened to be led by Sonia Gandhi and backing Sonia Gandhi herself. But that is a case of hair splitting. It would be like supporting the AIADMK 8216;led by Jayalalithaa8217; but not Jayalalithaa herself. The idea is laughable. Jayalalithaa could just as well have expressed her objections to Sonia8217;s antecedents in 1999. But she chose not to do so. Nor for that matter did she say anything on the subject over the last three years.
But equally important, she has also tried to block any tie-up between the Congress and the DMK by raising the foreign issue. She had alleged on the floor of the Tamil Nadu assembly that Murasoli Maran was meeting Sonia Gandhi clandestinely, declaring that she knew what she was talking about as the chief minister was privy to intelligence reports.
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She has made a calibrated move to position herself outside the doors of the NDA |
Jayalalithaa still rides high in Tamil Nadu. The DMK, which has been chafing against the BJP8217;s overtures to her, continues to be dogged by problems. The open warfare between M. Karunanidhi8217;s two sons, Azhagiri and Stalin, has not helped. However, Jayalalithaa knows the arithmetical logic of an alliance between the Congress, into which the Tamil Maanila Congress has now merged its identity, and the DMK 8212; although creating a Congress-DMK axis is easier said than done.
While Jayalalithaa8217;s political compulsions are comprehensible, this is not the case with the BJP who she has tried to please. Of course, the foreign issue is a convenient diversionary ploy, coming as it does after the petrol pump and the land scams, which have badly dented the BJP8217;s image. The Congress has fallen into the trap of rebutting and counter rebutting Jayalalithaa8217;s charges, and now every PCC will burn her effigies at the state headquarters. This is the best way of hyping an issue.
For all the bonhomie at Somnath Chatterji8217;s dinner among opposition leaders, there is hardly any possibility of Sonia Gandhi leading an alternative ministry to the Vajpayee government in the 13th Lok Sabha. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh did not attend the dinner, nor did Sharad Pawar, although he sent another NCP leader as his representative.
More important, the NDA partners are stuck with the BJP out of their own compulsions. George Fernandes may create waves by suddenly opposing the sell-off of Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, and by calling, in Switzerland, for the protection of minorities from a 8216;majoritarian agenda8217;, and he may have been in close touch with Mulayam Singh Yadav recently, but he cannot join hands with the Congress, and an alternative is not possible in this Lok Sabha without the support either of the Congress or the BJP.
Neither the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, nor the BJD in Orissa, nor the Samata Party in Bihar wants a resurgent Congress. This makes it easy for the BJP to adopt a lump-it-or-leave-it stance towards its partners. The possibility of the breakup of the NDA is therefore not a real threat for the BJP.
We come around once again to Gujarat, and the high stakes the party has in that state. The opposition leaders gathered at Somnath Chatterji8217;s house on August 27 discussed the possibility of ensuring a one-against-one electoral battle in Gujarat. The NCP, which has been negotiating with the Congress on seats in Gujarat, has talked about fielding candidates in the state. They may not be in a position to win seats but they have the potential to damage the Congress. Since Pawar parted company with Sonia on her foreign origins, raising the issue now can queer the pitch for an alliance between them.
Jayalalithaa8217;s attack on Sonia Gandhi8217;s foreign origins is dictated more by political imperatives than by any underlying principles.
