Jaya to raise Bhagwat issue
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, March 26 — Even as AIADMK Chief Jayalalitha tried to create pressure on the BJP-led coalition government by stating that she would raise former Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat’s issue at tomorrow’s Coordination Committee's meeting, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has asked Defence Minister George Fernandes to present the entire case along with relevant papers at the meeting.

While on arrival in the Capital, Ms Jayalalitha told reporters at the Airport that " I still oppose the sacking of Admiral Bhagwat and will raise it at the Coordination Committee meeting", the sources said that in the absence of a firm signal coming from the Congress she was likely to settle down on a debate on the issue in Parliament.

The Congress today tried to downplay Ms Jayalalitha’s trip to the Capital saying that "it was a routine visit". The Congress spokesperson, Ms Girija Vyas, said that nothing much should be read into her present visit.

When asked about the much trumpeted tea party of the Janata Party leader, Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Ms Vyas said that it should not be given any political colour.

CHENNAI (UNI): Talking to newsmen at the airport here before leaving for a five-day visit to New Delhi, she said she would express her view in this matter at the Coordination Committee meeting of the BJP-led government.

She said she had already expressed her stand on the issue and there was no change in it.

Earlier, she was not in favour of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the issue.

She declined to spell out the political significance of her visit to New Delhi where she is scheduled to take part in a tea-party hosted by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on March 29. Dr Swamy has also invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi and key opposition leaders to the party, which would also be attended by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.

To a question whether she would meet Ms Gandhi, Ms Jayalalitha evaded a direct reply saying that her itinerary had already been circulated to the media.

Asked whether she still held the view that a foreign born person like Ms Gandhi should not become the Prime Minister of the country, she said "no comments".

She refused to be drawn into a discussion on the Tamaraikani issue when newsmen sought her comment, saying that he had already been released.

Besides attending the coalition committee meeting, Ms Jayalalitha would also attend a tea-party hosted by BJP MP Vijay Goel.

She is also scheduled to call on Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani separately.

Ms Jayalalitha would attend the felicitation function in her honour by the women’s political watch (WPW) for her pioneering role in providing 33 per cent reservation for women in party posts.

She would also deliver a lecture at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University there.

AIADMK MP files caveat in SC on MLA's issue

NEW DELHI, March 26 (PTI) — AIADMK MP O.S. Manian today filed a caveat in the Supreme Court to pre-empt any move by the Tamil Nadu government to obtain any ex-parte order from the apex court in legal controversy over his party MLA, who assaulted a DMK Minister in the state-assembly.

In the caveat, Manian's counsel K.K. Mani requested the court not to pass any order without hearing him if the Tamil Nadu government approached the Supreme Court against the high court orders of March 23 and March 25.

The high court had released the MLA, R Thamaraikkani, after Tamil Nadu Speaker P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan sentenced him to imprisonment holding him guilty of assaulting state Agriculture Minister VS Arumugam in the House.

However, the House adopted a resolution on the next day sentencing the MLA to 15 days imprisonment but the high court again released him on interim bail.

The state assembly yesterday made it clear that it would not go on a path of confrontation with the judiciary and accepted grant of bail to Thamaraikkani by the Madras High Court, which suspended the House resolution imposing a 15-day prison term on him.