Relations between the BJP and the AIADMK appear to be returning to at least polite accommodation, if not friendship, but senior BJP leaders say they don't want to close the door on their friendly ties with the DMK either. AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha appears to have tempered her attitude after August 15.
That day, according to a senior BJP leader close to the prime minister, she was informed on behalf of Congress President Sonia Gandhi that the leading opposition party was not willing to join her to form an alternate government. This leader affirms that Jayalalitha had made up her mind to withdraw her group's support to the Vajpayee government on August 16.
He adds that Sharad Pawar, the only other power centre in the Congress, too told Jayalalitha that she should not help Gandhi to form a government.
The BJP's managers were pleased yesterday, when Jayalalitha did not respond to DMK leader Murasoli Maran's revelation the previous day that the centre had removed Chief Minister Karunanidhi's name from the list of suspects in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. Minister of state for personnel KMR Janardhanan stated that investigation against Karunanidhi would continue but did not say a word against the BJP or the letter to Maran.
The BJP's managers now believe that there will be no further challenge to the Vajpayee government until the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, due in end-November. The Congress does not want to allow the BJP the advantage of a sympathy vote, which could come to it if the government were brought down before those elections.
Now that its government is safe for the moment, the BJP has the upper hand in its relations with the AIADMK. Its leaders point out that she would most likely find herself in jail if the Karunanidhi government remained in power after she withdrew support to the BJP-led regime at the centre.
The DMK has smartly developed a cosy relationship with the BJP without giving up its formal ties with the crumbling United Front.
However, the BJP's managers - led by Vajpayee - have decided not to accept the advice of the many party leaders who want the BJP to respond to her recent bribery charge and string of humiliating jibes before that by ousting her from the coalition.
They figure that she and her backers would remain on the backfoot as long as they are within the coalition. Plus, they do not want to accept the political responsibility of breaking the alliance with her group. Plus, they fear that she may gain sympathy among Tamil voters. Her allies, who may be willing to break with her if she moves out of the coalition, to stay with her, they add.
Pramod Mahajan's challenge to Jayalalitha to name him and prove her charge was made after the BJP's managers were assured that the Congress had spurned Jayalalitha's support to form an alternate government. They decided not to respond to the reply from Subramanian Swamy, which used innuendo instead of evidence.
Indeed, by the end of last week, they had decided to play down their problems with the AIADMK at the BJP national executive meeting. A few days earlier, it had seemed that the meeting would be dominated by a debate on whether to continue in government if it meant putting up with Jayalalitha's constant needling.
