NDA team for stern action against T.N. Govt.

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 2. The National Democratic Alliance today passed the Tamil Nadu ``hot potato'' on to the Prime Minister and the Union Cabinet by demanding that the Centre take ``exemplary and stern action'' against the State Government and those police officials who had inflicted ``brutality'' on two Union Ministers and others on June 30. The NDA also recommended that the Centre ask the Tamil Nadu Government to drop the criminal cases against the Union Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T.R. Baalu as well as the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

Briefing the media after an hour-and-a-half-long meeting of the NDA at the Prime Minister's residence, its convener Mr. George Fernandes insisted that the case registered against Mr. Karunanidhi was untenable as it was based on a complaint by an official who himself was `corrupt'. Also, according to Mr. Fernandes, many of the NDA constituents were in favour of invoking Article 356 against the Jayalalitha Government, the combine as such did not endorse the demand. The Prime Minister was in the chair.

The Union Cabinet is scheduled to meet tomorrow evening to consider the NDA recommendations. The Cabinet would also have before it the report of the Home Ministry team, headed by the special secretary, Mr. M.B.Kaushal, that had visited Tamil Nadu, as well as the report of the three-member NDA team, led by Mr. George Fernandes, that had gone to make its own assessment. The Fernandes report notes that ``the leaders of various political parties whom we met, including the BJP, have also told us very strongly that with the breakdown of the Constitution in the State, the Union Government should invoke Article 356 and dismiss the Government.''

The ball is now in the Union Government's court. The indications are that having allowed the NDA to make the requisite political noises, the Centre would take a realistic view of the situation. The maximalist option under discussion is believed to be issue of specific directions under Article 257 to the Tamil Nadu Government that the charges against the Union Ministers be dropped. The Centre is believed to be considering advising the State Government to release political activists as well as not to intimidate and obstruct the Sun TV.

However, the sense of confrontation between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government appears to have dissipated. In fact, responsible officials of the Tamil Nadu Government had communicated, informally, to various functionaries at the Centre this morning that the release of the two Union Ministers would be ensured by the evening. In effect, the Tamil Nadu Government showed itself willing to address the gravamen of the Central resentment that two Union Ministers were under detention. To rub the point in, Mr. Maran even sent a fax message to the Prime Minister, that because he was ``under arrest by the Government of Tamil Nadu and kept in judicial custody at Chennai'' he was being ``prevented from discharging my duties as a Cabinet Minister of your Government.''

Once the word on the release of the Ministers was available, the Prime Minister decided to postpone the meeting of the Union Cabinet, slated for the evening. The NDA's recommendations would meanwhile be vetted by central officials as to whether the Centre could make the suggested demands on the State Government.

Obviously the feelings over the detention of two Union Ministers continue to run high within the NDA. As Mr. Fernandes put it: ``one cannot be allowed to play with the Constitution and to challenge the authority of the Central Government.'' An unmollified Mr. Fernandes remarked that ``by releasing them (the two Union Ministers), they (the State Government) have not done any favour.''

However, the Prime Minister obviously found himself under pressure from his political colleagues in the NDA who want to inflict some kind of retribution on Ms. Jayalalithaa's regime. Earlier in the day, Mr. Vajpayee found himself constrained to grant audience to Mr. George Fernandes. The NDA convener is believed to have presented the report of the three-member team that had visited Tamil Nadu on Sunday to make an on the spot assessment.

The political tenor of the NDA team report was blatant as was its conclusion that the majority view in Tamil Nadu favoured the imposition of President's rule in the State.

Earlier in the day a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique noted that the President had accepted the resignation of Ms. Fathima Beevi as Governor of Tamil Nadu, and had appointed Dr. C. Rangarajan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, ``to discharge the functions of the Governor of Tamil Nadu, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangements for the office of the Governor of Tamil Nadu are made.'' The announcement ended speculation whether the President was having some reservations about the advisability of the Union Cabinet's decision to show Ms. Beevi the door in order to make a political point against the Jayalalitha Government.

The National Human Rights Commission got involved in the middle of the act and took suo motu cognizance of the ``serious human rights violations'' in the incidents on June 30. The Commission has issued notice to the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police in Tamil Nadu to file their reply within a week. The Commission has taken upon itself to determine ``whether according to the decisions of the Supreme Court and the law laid down thereunder, such acts (incidents on June 30) constitute violation of human rights of the arrested persons.''

Advani speaks to PM

PTI reports:

The Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, who is away on a foreign tour, today spoke to the Prime Minister and the NDA convener and discussed the situation in Tamil Nadu, official sources said.

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