Storm in a tea cup?

One of the steps being contemplated by Jayalalitha earlier was to try and put across the allies8217; majority if not unanimous view after the tea party that the BJP was not consulting itsallies enough. Coming as it would have just before the Coordination Committee meeting, this show of unity would have shored up the position of the allies vis a vis the BJP, it was felt.

However, the plan was apparently shelved after some allies, like Defence Minister George Fernandes Samata Party and Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal Akali Dal conveyed to Jayalalitha that they felt that a meeting minus the BJP would send wrong signals at a time when the government seemed to have stabilised for the first time since it came to power. Following this, an invitation was sent to Jaswant Singh this evening. Thakre is to be invited tomorrow since he is returning to Delhi only tonight.