CHENNAI, May 22: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha has convened a meeting of the party executive here on May 25 amidst speculation that the meeting will take stock of the situation arising out of the Centre's silence on the demand for dismissal of the DMK government.While Jayalalitha has not set any time-frame for the DMK regime's dismissal, her ally, the Janata Party's Subramanian Swamy, has urged her to withdraw support to the BJP-led government, if the state government is not dismissed by June 15.
This is the first major meeting of the party forum since Jayalalitha attended the meeting of the coordination committee of partners of the ruling coalition at the Centre on May 9.
Party sources say the party chief may also brief the executive about the one-to-one meeting she had with Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani.
Jayalalitha, who was vociferous in her demand for the dismissal of the DMK government headed by M Karunanidhi until a fortnight ago, has been soft-pedalling theissue after her New Delhi visit, probably on advice from the BJP leadership.
The floor strategy to be adopted by the AIADMK and its allies during the budget session of Parliament beginning on May 27, may also prominently figure in the meeting, sources said.
The meeting an AIADMK delegation had on Wednesday in New Delhi with the Prime Minister is also seen by political observers as an attempt to fire yet another salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, though officially the party has said the team had taken up with Vajpayee the issue of delay in implementing some long pending projects in Tamil Nadu.
As the AIADMK executive does not meet frequently, the fact that the present meeting has been called within a short period of the last meeting -- held on April 15 -- has come as a surprise. It was after the previous meeting that she urged the Prime Minister to drop "tainted" ministers from the Cabinet or take Sedapatti Muthiah back.
The Election Commission's announcement of the schedule for pollsto fill 47 Rajya Sabha seats, including six from Tamil Nadu, and fixing June 18 for the elections, has dashed the AIADMK's hopes of getting the state Assembly dissolved before the elections to the Upper House of Parliament.
The executive is also expected to discuss ways for better coordination between the AIADMK and its allies, in the context of the PMK's stand against the invocation of Article 356 against the DMK government.
The party may also reiterate the demand for the sacking of Union Ministers Ramakrishna Hegde and Ram Jethmalani, who have not been invited for the AIADMK's planned mega-event on August 2 at Dindigul where allied party leaders will gather for a public meeting.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.