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In a move designed to lower temperatures in the ruling National Democratic Alliance, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and three of his senior cabinet colleagues met on Tuesday and decided to terminate the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) confrontationist stance against the feisty Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
A top official in the Prime Minister's Office told rediff.com that Prime Minister Vajpayee along with Union Home Minister L K Advani, External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan decided to end the ongoing confrontation between the BJP and the Shiv Sena in the larger interests of the NDA.
He said the meeting, which took place in Vajpayee's office in Parliament, discussed the letter sent by Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Nirupam on Monday night expressing regret for criticising the PMO's alleged role in the crisis at Unit Trust of India.
The official said the leaders decided to ignore the uncharitable comments of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who was peeved with Vajpayee for not giving an appointment to Nirupam and his party colleagues.
The Shiv Sena chief had on Tuesday said in Bombay that his party would not hesitate to leave the NDA if pushed into a corner by the BJP.
Later, BJP parliamentary party spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters that while his party did not wish to have any confrontation with any alliance partner, the Shiv Sena was free to leave the NDA if it so desired.
"The prime minister and his cabinet colleagues felt that the alliance partners should sink their differences and unitedly face the challenges before the government and the country," the official said.
He said the meeting also decided to direct BJP leaders to desist from making any provocative statements against the Shiva Sena or its leaders.
It was felt that even if Nirupam or other Sena leaders criticised the government, the matter should henceforth be ignored, according to the official.
The official revealed that Thackeray had been sounded out on the latest decision by the prime minister and his senior cabinet colleagues regarding protecting the unity of the alliance.
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