It is one visit that will be the cynosure of all political eyes in the capital. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa will arrive here tomorrow on a two-day visit, loaded with political significance.
Relations between the Congress and Jayalalithaa’s rival, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), are not exactly warm. Not only has the DMK got a thorough drubbing in the Assembly elections, but also several of its nominees at the Centre — party head M Karunanidhi’s daughter, Kanimozhi; nephew and textile minister Dayanidhi Maran, and associate A Raja — are under intense CBI scrutiny on charges of corruption. The Congress would love to see the DMK go away – except that the latter has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, supporting the Congress-led UPA. By contrast, Jayalalithaa has just nine MPs.
The real signal will be whether Jayalalithaa would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on what it meant to be a working visit by the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Although news filtering from party headquarters indicated Gandhi was going to host the Tamil Nadu CM to tea, the Congress has nothing to gain and everything to lose by roiling alliance waters in Tamil Nadu.
When the TN election campaign was on, Jayalalithaa had asked the Congress to dump the DMK and offered her support to replace the DMK. The Congress had replied, rather rudely, that there was no vacancy in the UPA. Sources said an agreement with some members of the Congress on changing partners in TN had broken down, leading to a humiliating rejection of Jayalalithaa’s offer.
Politics apart, this would be her visit to the capital after assuming office in Chennai. Jayalalithaa will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is expected to discuss the issues of the Sri Lankan Tamils and various development projects in Tamil Nadu. The issue of Indian fishermen being allegedly attacked by the Lankan navy when they cross into its waters inadvertantly is also expected to be discussed.
Within weeks of coming into power, the Jaya government had a resolution passed unanimously in the state assembly, seeking imposition of economic sanctions on Sri Lanka for alleged human rights violations during the late war against the Tamil insurgent group, the LTTE.
The Centre had also sent national security adviser Shivshankar Menon to meet her in Chennai before he left for Colombo, with foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, to hold talks with Lankan authorities.
After taking over, Jayalalithaa had said the financial position of the state was “very bad” and she would need the Centre’s assistance to implement several projects and schemes.