M A I N   N E W S

Jaya fulfils vow at temple

Guruvayur (Kerala), July 2
Disregarding her Kerala counterpart A.K. Antony’s advice based on security concerns, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha today flew out of a bandh-bound state to fulfil a vow at the famed Sri Krishna Temple here.

She had ‘darshan’ of the Lord and, as a gesture of thanksgiving for her party’s landslide victory in the recent Assembly elections, offered an elephant to the temple.

However, on her arrival, she was greeted with black flags and slogans by a group of workers of the BJP and the Yuva Morcha, which had also called for a hartal in protest against her visit which came in the midst of a turmoil arising out of the arrests of top DMK leaders in Tamil Nadu. The police used force to disperse the demonstrators. UNI

People want sack of govt: report
T. R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 2
The report submitted by the NDA fact-finding team headed by former Union Defence Minister George Fernandes which visited Chennai yesterday has steered clear of recommending that Tamil Nadu be brought under Central rule.

At the same time, the report draws pointed attention to the strong feelings of people in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu that the Centre should intervene effectively and dismiss the J. Jayalalitha government, it is learnt.

Mr Fernandes and the other two members of the team — Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra — called on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this afternoon and submitted their report to him.

The NDA team apprised Mr Vajpayee of the prevailing mood in Chennai and the sequence of unruly events leading to the pre-meditated and high-handed arrest of DMK chief and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi and that of Union Ministers Murasoli Maran and T.R. Baalu.

The report has emphasised that there is widespread dismay and resentment among people against Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha’s single-minded pursuit of political vendatta aimed at settling personal scores.

The NDA team after meeting Mr Karunanidhi in Chennai central jail and meeting a wide cross-section of people including DMK activists provides a blow by blow account of the scenes leading to the former Chief Minister’s arrest. It has also taken exception to the shabby treatment being meted out to him in jail like a petty criminal.

The report has also focussed on the unprecedented and uncalled for arrest of the Central ministers belonging to the DMK even though they were released today to forestall any extreme measure being contemplated by the Centre. It focussed on constitutional impropriety and a serious law and order situation developing in the state.

The team has avoided a direct reference to bringing Tamil Nadu under Central rule because of the reservations that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s SAD has on invoking Article 356 of the constitution. If the team had done so in unambiguous terms, Mr Dhindsa might not have been able to append his signature to the report.

Therefore, they have taken recourse to making their point by alluding to the popular public sentiment prevailing in Tamil Nadu.

Though most of the constituents of the NDA want that Article 356 should be invoked in Tamil Nadu, the SAD has been against the misuse of this constitutional provision. At the same time, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said his Telegu Desam Party would support any decision that the Vajpayee government took.