NEW DELHI, April 14: Caught in a political bind over the anti-Muslim upsurge unleashed by his Bharatia Janata Party, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Sunday pleaded with key allies, shoring his wobbly coalition, for crucial support in a parliamentary trust vote that could precede state polls in Gujarat, expected in June, officials and politicians said.
Meeting a day ahead of a parliamentary session that is expected to be stormy, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said it had asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party to continue supporting the government. The TDP has demanded the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but was not decided on Sunday if it would go as far as pulling out of the alliance.
“No threat to NDA government. We have made an appeal to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to continue its support to the government,” Tamil NDA leader Vaiko said after nearly 90-minute meeting of the alliance held at the residence of the prime minister.
The Trinamool Congress stayed away from the meeting, and said it would follow the decision taken by the TDP on the issue of continuing support to the Vajpayee government.
Mr Vaiko said the NDA was optimistic that the TDP would continue its support to the government. The meeting reiterated NDA’s commitment to its common agenda and secularism, he said.
NDA leader said the meeting was informed of the steps taken by the Gujarat government to restore normalcy in the state as also the rehabilitation measures.
The prime minister expressed shock over the “totally distorted” interpretation of his speech in Panaji which has been officially flayed by Pakistan.
Mr Vaiko said that none of the allies demanded Modi’s resignation at the NDA meeting. “It is the prerogative of the BJP to decide as to who should run the government,” he said.
Replying to a question, Defence Minister George Fernandes said Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee rang him up to say that she was unable to attend the meeting as she was occupied with new-year celebrations in Kolkata.
Lok Janashakti leader and Mines Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had informed him that he would not be present at the meeting as his flight was delayed, Fernandes said.
The NDA, he said, was unanimous in its resolve to defeat the scheming of the Congress and its cohorts.
“We will not permit any destabilisation of the country at this critical juncture, and that too when our defence forces are deployed on the borders,” Fernandes said. The meeting also decided that a team of the NDA should be sent to Gujarat to review the relief and rehabilitation in the state, he added.
In a significant development, Vajpayee spoke to the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and rejected the demand for removal of Modi, saying the party’s executives had already taken such a decision.
Within hours after the TDP politburo met in Hyderabad and reiterated its stand that Modi should go immediately, and Vajpayee met senior party leaders including Advani and Pramod Mahajan after a dinner at Raj Bhavan from where the prime minister spoke to Naidu, BJP sources said.
The TDP, adopting a resolution on the burning issue, opposed any move to hold elections and refused to budge from its demand for immediate removal of Modi, news reports said.
Vajpayee’s response to Naidu came after Advani made it clear at a press conference that no ally has the right to decide who the chief minister of a BJP-ruled state should be.
The prime minister on Sunday expressed confidence that the problem with the TDP would be sorted out. “If necessary, we will prove our strength,” he told re-porters, when asked if there was a danger to his government in the wake of the possibility of crucial ally TDP withdrawing support.
Mr Vajpayee dismissed talk of instability at the centre, saying in reply to another question that “there is no such thing.”
