The Seven-Minute Summit

FOR the occasion, bjp MP Vijay Goel's Mahadev Road residence was embellished with marigold garlands, rangolis, Kathakali masks and imitation Chola-era statues. Goel had done his best to create a southern ambience for his demanding guest. He was even particular on the snacks: three kinds of vadas and assorted chutneys. And a fair sprinkling of south Indian scribes added to the atmosphere. An incongruous note, though, was struck by the local band, belting out the musical score from Love Story: "Where do I begin to tell the story of how sweet love can be?"

The import of the lyrics is lost on the motley crowd of frontline bjp leaders—Khushabhau Thakre, K.L. Sharma, Murli Manohar Joshi, J.P. Mathur—and some of allies like Parkash Singh Badal hovering around the queen bee. While the bjp biggies fawn on her, the Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) stands stoic.

"So how are you, madam? Hope you are enjoying Delhi," says actor-turned-MP Vinod Khanna. Her face registers a faint smile. Her attention is then drawn to Thakre, who exchanges pleasantries. "Are you well?" asks the bjp chief. After the perfunctory greetings, the motions of which she goes through quickly, Jayalalitha looks tired. But not enough to prevent her from pulling up columnist Tavleen Singh for writing "mischievous" columns against her. "My sentiments have been hurt," announces Amma.

A waiter, probably overawed by Amma's formidable presence, drops a tray and the vadas and chutney spill perilously close to her silk sari. Just as Jayalalitha ensconces herself in a well-upholstered sofa, the band breaks out, ironically, into Lata Mangeshkar's "Ajeeb daastaan hain yeh, kahan shuru kahan khatam..." (It's a strange tale, no beginning or end). Yet again, nobody reacts to the song. But Mukund Behari Kaushal, a special secretary in the home ministry, standing in a far corner, acknowledges the message.

Almost all the aiadmk MPs on the edges of a packed lawn watching every move of their leader in rapt attention, refuse to answer any queries, despite the informal setting. "What did she say in the coordination committee meeting?" "Is Sasikala also with her?" "Why did she leave Ashoka Hotel in a huff?" "Is she parting ways with the bjp?" To all these questions, the stock response, and almost in unison: "Don't ask us anything now. We will talk later after Amma has left for Chennai." A stock response ingrained over years through a systematic use of fear and repression, an Amma legacy. Even the normally loquacious R. Janarthanam, minister of state for personnel, is reticent. "Our party has always taken principled stands," he says, without any reference to context.

A staffer at the Ashoka Hotel pointed out that the Puratchi Thalaivi had thrown a fit earlier in the day, and that too on arrival, when the lift stopped between the Presidential Suite (her habitual haunt) on the seventh floor and the lobby. Despite her tantrums, it continued to malfunction—not once, not twice but thrice during the day.Worse, in her suite, the air-conditioner rattled and spluttered and the bathroom taps were dry.

"If you have to fork out Rs 33,000 as daily tariff, one expects the basics to function," said an Ashoka employee, justifying the monarchial miff. Slighted, Amma left in a huff, her eight suitcases and Sasikala in tow, zipping off in her custom-built Tata Sierra to the Taj Hotel's Rajput Suite. The rent may have been lower at Rs 28,000, but with a lavish complimentary breakfast buffet and personalised service thrown in, Amma seemed content.

"Do you know that Ananth Kumar—who has additional charge of the tourism portfolio—rang up S.B. Sabharwal, Ashoka's general manager, and gave him a tongue-lashing?" asks Ashwini Kumar, Punjab Kesri's editor. For her part, though mostly confined indoors, Sasikala got to see parts of Delhi. Escorted by Congress MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy's relatives and friends, she shopped and reportedly saw a few farmhouses near Mehrauli, on the outskirts of the city—clearly, the natural instinct to scout for property has not deserted her.

It was headhunter-in-a-hurry Subramanian Swamy's tea party that was the crowning moment of her five-day stay in the capital. And she made fine ceremony of the bjp's discomfiture. Relishing every second of her 90-minute stay in Ashoka's banquet hall, she had the top brass of the opposition, topped with the fleeting presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, greeting her. It was from the same platform a year ago that Amma had attacked Sonia of being a foreigner. "Politics is in a constant flux," she said, by way of justifying her meeting with Sonia. The aiadmk MPs, as is their wont, sat in the back rows, quiescent.

Three former prime ministers arrived but she handled them in her own imperious style: Amma hardly spoke to Narasimha Rao, had little to say to Chandra Shekhar and traded a few words with Deve Gowda. Former finance minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress' economic cell advisor, Jairam Ramesh, were involved in merry banter with Amma. But she hardly had anything to say to Devi Lal or his son, Om Prakash Chautala, though they shared the prized sofa with her for a few minutes. "They are not important in her scheme of things. She knows that," pointed out a reporter with at Tamil paper.

It is a Dravidian conquest," said Romesh Bhandari, former Uttar Pradesh governor. "Strange are the ways of empresses," remarked Jairam Ramesh, to explain what he thought of Jayalalitha's protracted stay in the capital. Kiran Choudhary, Congress mla, was not too happy with the attention Amma was deriving. "If she thinks she's queen bee, she has not seen ours yet." Yet within minutes, she ambled deftly to be by Amma's side and be clicked by obliging photographers. Ghulam Nabi Azad, digging into his paneer pakoras said: "Some people are going to have sleepless nights."

THE lady left the Ashoka with a bounce in her otherwise calibrated stride that evening. She did not also bother to wipe the beads of perspiration, steadily breaking out, from her face. "Thank you Mr Swamy, it was very kind of you to arrange this gathering," she said.

"It is all right, my pleasure," replied Swamy. "Without you, I am nothing." How true!