The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Jayalalithaa's meeting with Manmohan creates ripples

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 18, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Jayalalithaa's meeting with Manmohan creates ripples

By V. Jayanth

CHENNAI, SEPT. 17. Has the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Jayalalithaa opened a window to the Congress? Even if her first meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not mean very much politically, it has certainly cleared the air as far as the Tamil Nadu Congress functionaries and cadres are concerned. There are no clear signals anywhere, but she has at least created a ripple effect. One thing the Congress leaders are clear about now is that unless there is a meeting with party president Sonia Gandhi, it does not go very far.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's first meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh has sent out at least two signals — that she is ready to evolve a working relationship with the Centre, despite 12 of its Ministers coming from the Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu; what is more, she has made it clear that there was no "personalised attack" on Ms. Sonia Gandhi during the election campaign. (She had at that time referred to the Congress president only by her Italian name of Antonio Maino.) Now that is to be interpreted as election rhetoric.

Clarification welcomed

Congress circles here welcome the clarification, though they have their own serious reservations about Ms. Jayalalithaa's intentions or plans for the future. But they welcome the very idea of an alternative, though they do not entertain any thoughts of an alliance or understanding again with the AIADMK. But such a possibility could help the party get a better deal and treatment from the present ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

There is lot of disaffection in the State party unit on a range of issues — the way the party leadership is dealing with the TNCC; the lack of interest or involvement of the Union Ministers in the party affairs here; the "over importance" given to the DMK and the way in which the DMK is treating the party.

Not that they think any differently of the AIADMK when it comes to the treatment of its allies, but their only reason is that the party's bargaining position improves with an option on hand. "Now, the DMK at least calls the alliance leaders for a meeting if only to endorse the decisions or resolutions that are ready. But Ms. Jayalalithaa may not even meet the State leaders of an alliance, except to sign the seat-sharing agreement," explains a former TNCC president. He makes it very clear that Congress workers in the State can never forget or forgive the "indecent remarks" that the AIADMK leader made against Ms. Gandhi during the past three years. But they tend to agree with the adage: There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics.

Odds against AIADMK

As things stand, the odds are heavily stacked against the AIADMK. The Congress is only heading a coalition at the Centre, in which the DMK and its allies hold 30 out of 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The Congress has only 10 MPs from here. And the current situation in the State, they feel, is still very much against the ruling party. Nobody in the party here really wants a change. But they want the high command to help enhance the image of the party, strengthen its leadership here and initiate concrete measures to put in place an organisational set up that can revive the Congress at least in the medium-term.

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