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DMK threatens to pull out of NDA government

In the first rumblings among the Bharatiya Janata Party's allies over the Ayodhya controversy, a key ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, threatened on Friday to pull out of the central government if there was any deviation from the National Democratic Alliance's agenda of governance.

The DMK threat is the fallout of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's justification of his remarks that the Ram temple movement was an expression of 'national feeling'.

In a related development, Civil Aviation Minister and Janata Dal, United, president Sharad Yadav met Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader K Yerran Naidu and discussed the significance of Vajpayee's speech on Thursday opposing the censure motion of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

Yadav's party colleague, Devender Prasad Yadav, met Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and Yerran Naidu and held informal consultations on the issue.

Banerjee, who is said to be very upset, later left for Calcutta for urgent consultations with party politicians on Saturday.

"In the Lok Sabha yesterday [during the debate on the censure motion], the DMK leader had stated that it will not be part of the government if it deviates from the NDA's agenda. That is the party's view," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi said in Madras at an iftaar party hosted by a retired judge of the Madras high court.

Karunanidhi also said the party would include in its manifesto for the 2001 assembly election in Tamil Nadu a promise to consider reservations for Muslims in government jobs, which, he said, was a longstanding demand.

Karunanidhi's veiled warning comes in the wake of reports that key allies of the BJP were upset by Vajpayee's speech in the Lok Sabha repeating his remarks on the temple construction movement. Allies like the Trinamul Congress, TDP and DMK were said to be not so enthusiastic about his speech.

The Trinamul Congress showed its resentment on Thursday on the floor of the Lok Sabha and threatened to abstain from the vote on the censure motion, forcing Vajpayee to give an assurance that the government would abide by the court verdict on the temple-mosque dispute.

But the BJP appeared to be unconcerned about the position of some of the allies and virtually told them that they should accept the party's "sentiments" on the Ayodhya issue.

Devendra Prasad Yadav later said the allies agreed that they would be forced to review support to the government if it deviated from the national agenda. They also felt that a constant vigil should be kept on that front.

As several political parties analysed Vajpayee's speech, BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters that party MPs felt that just as the BJP respected the sentiments of its allies, "they should also respect ours".

"It was felt that just as the BJP has put on the backburner contentious issues, the allies should also not raise them," he said.

Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani told reporters that the Opposition's attempt to drive a wedge between the BJP and its allies in the Lok Sabha through the censure motion had failed.

He said that by raising these issues, the Opposition was trying to create problems for the prime minister and the NDA and harming communal harmony.

He also hit out at the Congress, saying the BJP could also rake up the anti-Sikh riots every year on November 1, but refrained from such a course in the interests of social harmony.

Karunanidhi said that if the DMK's aim was to cling to power at the Centre, it would not have opposed the idea of constructing a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

He said the NDA's agenda did not mention building a temple at the disputed site. "I have already made it clear that there is no question of construction of temple at the site where the Babri Masjid was demolished," he said, adding that Palanimacikam had only echoed his view in the Lok Sabha.

Welcoming Vajpyee's statement on Thursday that a solution to the dispute could only be through a court verdict, Karunanidhi said the DMK's continuance in the NDA was only to protect the interests of the minorities.

Alleging that the Opposition was shedding 'crocodile tears' for the mosque, he asked why it was now with those who had supported the kar seva, an obvious reference to All-India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha's speech at a National Development Council meeting. Then the Tamil Nadu chief minister, Jayalalitha had said that there was nothing wrong in allowing kar seva.

PTI

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