New Delhi, April 20
The Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government is worried about the hardened stance of certain allies that there can be no compromise on the ouster of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

The attempt to deflect the Opposition’s insistence on having a discussion under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha aimed at censuring the BJP-led NDA government for the February 27 carnage in Godhra and subsequent communal riots in Gujarat is an indication that the Prime Minister finds himself on a somewhat sticky wicket.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s unbudging approach so far that the unabating violence in Gujarat impinged on the country’s secular character requiring the ouster of Mr Modi is posing its own problems to Mr Vajpayee’s trouble shooters.

It is apparent that Mr Naidu cannot resile from that stand for some time due to the loss of face coupled with failing his constituents in his home state where the TDP ranks the Congress and the BJP as its main enemies. This is all the more so because the TDP Politburo has adopted two resolutions in rapid fire succession that the Gujarat Chief Minister should be sent packing.

At the same time, Mr Naidu is unlikely to withdraw the outside support extended by his TDP to the Vajpayee government. At the same time, the BJP is acutely aware of the intrinsice value of TDP’s 28 votes in the Lok Sabha.

That is a primary factor for the NDA strategists to categorically reject a discussion under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha which entails voting. There are discernible cracks in the disparate NDA coglomeration on the continuance of Mr Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Even though Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has reaffirmed that it will support the Vajpayee government in case the Opposition comes forward with a motion of no-confidence against the Vajpayee government, it has assured the TDP of being with it through and through on Mr Modi or any other issue.

The BJP think tank is unsure what the TDP, the Trinamool Congress and some other smaller groups in the NDA will do in case the Gujarat discussion is taken up under Rule 184. If these parties decide to abstain during the voting, the Vajpayee government can face the most embarrassing situation as the critical arithmetic might not be in its favour. This despite the fact that the BJP-led NDA is in a majority in the Lok Sabha.

Even though the defeat of the Union Government following a censure motion might affirm the Opposition strategy in seeing the back of Mr Modi, it is not mandatory for the Vajpayee government to bid adieu to the seat of power on the Raisina Hill. Nevertheless, should such a delicate situation arise the Vajpayee regime can find itself in a morally irretrievable jam.