BJP, Jayalalithaa join hands

Doubts prevail even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief M Venkaiah Naidu claims to have formally sealed the electoral tie-up with AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa after a brief meeting with her in Chennai today.

After the 45-minute meeting, Jayalalithaa and Naidu appeared quite cautious in their statements but declared their intention to work together for the Lok Sabha elections.

But Jayalalithaa avoided to reply to the query about the possibility of the AIADMK joining the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. "Whatever I have to tell you, I have said," she remarked.

That Naidu also avoided exceeding the brief was evident by his statement that he discussed with Jayalalithaa about the political scenario and the possibility of working together.

Asked whether it was just an understanding to fight the coming polls or whether the AIADMK was now part of the NDA, Naidu said, "We have decided to work together and other such issues, which needed more clarity, will be worked out later".

"The details of the seat sharing will be worked out at a later stage," he said when asked about the formula under which the alliance had come through.

Drawing a parallel, he said even in Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)was not part of the NDA.

Expressing confidence that Tamil Nadu would rally behind the NDA and Vajpayee, Naidu said the BJP had already won the first round by setting the agenda for the elections.

Obviously, there was a desperate move by the BJP to firm up alliance with the AIADMK after the decision of the DMK-MDMK-PMK combine to forge an alliance with the Congress.

Even Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani personally called up Jayalalithaa to initiate the process of dialogue with the AIADMK chief who is still looked with suspicion by a substantial section of the BJP leadership because of her unreliable behaviour in the past.

Jayalalithaa was instrumental in the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in its first stint of 13 months.

A section of the BJP leaders feel that given the past experience with the AIADMK, it was a politically incorrect move to let a reliable ally like the DMK drift towards the Congress.

Sources said even NDA convener George Fernandes was sceptical about the idea of having an alliance with the AIADMK.

Fernandes held the view that despite strains between the BJP and the DMK, the efforts should be made to retain the reliable Dravidian allies within the NDA.

That Fernandes has kept himself away from the BJP-AIADMK alliance is indication of the skepticism prevailing within the NDA on the issue.

But the haste with which Naidu rushed to Jayalalithaa to forge the alliance reflects the BJP's eagerness to demonstrate its clout in Tamil Nadu.

"We have decided to fight the polls on the basis of our performance and we are also clear about leadership," unlike the Congress front which was "fighting shy" to name its leader.

With the formalisation of the alliance and rehabilitation of Kalyan Singh in the BJP, Naidu is keen to project himself as the party president who expanded the party's base before the polls.