April 27, 1998

Alliance partners want Vajpayee to assert his authority.

Prabhu Chawla

Handling large audiences needs very little effort on his part. He can mesmerise crowds like few others can. But it's dealing with a small group of people that is posing a monumental problem for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. With the leaders of his coalition parties and cabinet ministers involved in fierce slanging matches, Vajpayee has realised the virtues of drawing room dialogue -- a prerequisite for consensual politics.

Last week, when the AIADMK's presiding deity Jayalalitha and Union ministers Ram Jethmalani and Ramakrishna Hegde were locked in a verbal duel over her suggestion of dropping all "tainted" ministers from the Cabinet, the prime minister simply decided to withdraw into a shell. His ostrich-like approach to a potentially explosive situation not only betrayed his lack of confidence but also eroded his authority over the Government. Vajpayee has always been a loner who shuns combative politics and refrains from launching frontal attacks even on his adversaries. Unfortunately for him, this trait is now being perceived as a sign of weakness not only by his own colleagues but also by opponents like Marxist leaders Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who have termed the BJP Government as anti-national.

His promoters are peeved with his reluctance to assert his prime ministerial authority. As Jayalalitha increased the frequency of her oracular statements from Chennai, Vajpayee was under tremendous pressure to call her bluff. In fact, his advisers suggested that he summon the avaricious damsel on the prowl to Delhi and persuade her to follow a code of public conduct.

During the past few weeks, her demands have only swelled enormously. On top of it, she seems to have made up her mind that it is her -- and not the prime minister's -- prerogative to decide who will be in the Government. Jayalalitha's acolytes control 15 departments at the Centre, including crucial ones like revenue, banking, law, company affairs, surface transport and personnel. After the resignation of Sedapatti R. Muthiah from the Cabinet, Vajpayee could not hand over the surface transport portfolio to another minister of his choice. Jayalalitha virtually dictated that the AIADMK's Law Minister Thambi Durai handle it until a replacement was decided upon, no doubt from her party, during the next cabinet reshuffle. But the prime minister is under pressure from other alliance partners to put an end to this dangerous drift.

In some ways, Vajpayee's art of handling his coalition partners and allies is very much like that of his predecessor Inder Kumar Gujral, who allowed himself to be blackmailed by Sitaram Kesri and his Congress party. But Gujral neither had charisma nor political legitimacy to lead a coalition. He was imposed on the nation by a small group of regional satraps. Besides, his own colleagues in the Janata Dal treated him as a leader of no consequence. Vajpayee doesn't suffer from such handicaps. If the BJP was able to win over 180 seats in the last election, it was largely due to his personal charisma. Public opinion polls showed his ratings were higher than the combined ratings of many of his opponents. Instead of taming Jayalalitha, the prime minister seems to have decided to maintain a diplomatic silence and allow her to cross all limits. There appears to be a similarity of approach between Vajpayee and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Like Rao, Vajpayee too has acquired the sobriquet of Mauni Baba (Silent Saint). And the prime minister is convinced that silence may eventually win him the final war -- even if he loses his current battle.

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