Cracks appear in three-month-old UNPA
The fledgling UNPA, formed on a “equi-distance from the Congress and BJP” plank a few months ago, was on the verge of collapse on Sunday.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The fledgling UNPA, formed on a “equi-distance from the Congress and BJP” plank a few months ago, was on the verge of collapse on Sunday when AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, who is one of the founder members of the alliance, questioned the decision making process in the organisation.
The provocation for Ms Jayalalithaa’s striking a discordant note was provided by Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh. Responding to a query on the UNPA’s stance on the NDA’s demand for setting up a JPC to examine the implications of the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement, Mr Singh had favoured the formation of a separate mechanism, comprising representatives of all major parties, to look into the issue.
The AIADMK leader sought to strike a different note on Sunday, questioning the need for a separate mechanism, and wondered whether her party was part of the UNPA at all. “Mr Singh is reported to have stated that there should be another mechanism for every political party to present its views on the Indo-US nuke deal. This is definitely not the view of the AIADMK, and cannot be termed as the considered or collective view of the UNPA,” she said in a statement issued in Chennai on Sunday.
The issue of setting up another mechanism, she maintained, had not been discussed with the constituent parties of the UNPA, especially the AIADMK. “Mr Singh’s statement must be treated as his own individual opinion,” she said, adding the AIADMK was for a single mechanism for a national issue “which cannot permit promotion of any sectional view” — a stance which was seen as an endorsement of the NDA’s JPC demand.
The BJP, meanwhile, is trying to re-build bridges with her. Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad, who’s the `prabhari’ for Tamil Nadu, met Ms Jayalalitha in Chennai on Friday in what was described as a ``courtesy call’’.
This is not the first time the AIADMK chief has put a spanner in the UNPA’s efforts to be seen as a viable, cohesive alliance. In the presidential election held in July this year, her party’s legislators had, defying the coalition’s decision to abstain from the voting process, backed the NDA’s nominee, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Ms Jayalalithaa attributed the defiance to “a communication-gap” — an argument which most leaders of the UNPA found hard to believe. In Haryana too, legislators belonging to the INLD, another founder-member of the UNPA, were found to have voted in favour of Mr Shekhawat in large numbers, triggering doubts about the UNPA’s fate and longevity.
By charting a different course on the Samajwadi Party general secretary’s “separate mechanism” formula, Ms Jayalalithaa has delivered another blow to the UNPA’s chances of remaining a cohesive force in the run-up to the crucial general elections, widely believed to be round the corner in the wake of the UPA-Left skirmishes on the nuclear deal.
Ms Jayalalithaa, in her statement, also cited a letter written by her to a newspaper, in which she had pointed out that the Left parties did not invite her outfit to take part in a protest rally in the Capital against India’s joint naval exercises with other nations, including the US.
“Only the SP and the Telugu Desam Party had been invited to join the rally,” she said, adding that the two constituents of the UNPA did “not even bother to inform the AIADMK about the demonstration or their participation in it”.
The provocation for Ms Jayalalithaa’s striking a discordant note was provided by Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh. Responding to a query on the UNPA’s stance on the NDA’s demand for setting up a JPC to examine the implications of the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement, Mr Singh had favoured the formation of a separate mechanism, comprising representatives of all major parties, to look into the issue.
The AIADMK leader sought to strike a different note on Sunday, questioning the need for a separate mechanism, and wondered whether her party was part of the UNPA at all. “Mr Singh is reported to have stated that there should be another mechanism for every political party to present its views on the Indo-US nuke deal. This is definitely not the view of the AIADMK, and cannot be termed as the considered or collective view of the UNPA,” she said in a statement issued in Chennai on Sunday.
The issue of setting up another mechanism, she maintained, had not been discussed with the constituent parties of the UNPA, especially the AIADMK. “Mr Singh’s statement must be treated as his own individual opinion,” she said, adding the AIADMK was for a single mechanism for a national issue “which cannot permit promotion of any sectional view” — a stance which was seen as an endorsement of the NDA’s JPC demand.
The BJP, meanwhile, is trying to re-build bridges with her. Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad, who’s the `prabhari’ for Tamil Nadu, met Ms Jayalalitha in Chennai on Friday in what was described as a ``courtesy call’’.
This is not the first time the AIADMK chief has put a spanner in the UNPA’s efforts to be seen as a viable, cohesive alliance. In the presidential election held in July this year, her party’s legislators had, defying the coalition’s decision to abstain from the voting process, backed the NDA’s nominee, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
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Ms Jayalalithaa attributed the defiance to “a communication-gap” — an argument which most leaders of the UNPA found hard to believe. In Haryana too, legislators belonging to the INLD, another founder-member of the UNPA, were found to have voted in favour of Mr Shekhawat in large numbers, triggering doubts about the UNPA’s fate and longevity.
By charting a different course on the Samajwadi Party general secretary’s “separate mechanism” formula, Ms Jayalalithaa has delivered another blow to the UNPA’s chances of remaining a cohesive force in the run-up to the crucial general elections, widely believed to be round the corner in the wake of the UPA-Left skirmishes on the nuclear deal.
Ms Jayalalithaa, in her statement, also cited a letter written by her to a newspaper, in which she had pointed out that the Left parties did not invite her outfit to take part in a protest rally in the Capital against India’s joint naval exercises with other nations, including the US.
“Only the SP and the Telugu Desam Party had been invited to join the rally,” she said, adding that the two constituents of the UNPA did “not even bother to inform the AIADMK about the demonstration or their participation in it”.
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“All the above developments reported in the media made me wonder whether the AIADMK is still a part of the UNPA or whether the UNPA continues to exist as one entity at all,” she said.Download
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