COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Government deploys M M Joshi to woo Jaya

Union Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi today contacted All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha on phone and sought her party's continued support to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre.

Disclosing this to reporters in Madras, AIADMK parliamentary party leader Sedapatti R Muthiah said the talk lasted 10 minutes.

Jayalalitha promised Joshi nothing, and merely said she would decide her stand after consulting various politicians during her proposed visit to Delhi on Monday, April 12.

Dr Joshi's telephonic appeal came after the AIADMK pulled out of the co-ordination committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition.

This is the first time a senior member of the Union Cabinet has established direct contact with Jayalalitha after the AIADMK general council authorised her on April 3 to initiate steps to form an alternative coalition if the Vajpayee government rejected its demands, including dismissal of Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Only yesterday, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani had sought the support of the AIADMK's arch rival in Tamil Nadu, the ruling DMK, in the event of a trial of strength in the Lok Sabha. The AIADMK has 18 members in the Lok Sabha and the DMK, six.

Tell us what you think of this report