This newspaper has always held that in the interests of maintaining the highest standards in public life a principle that the BJP had espoused forcefully in its election manifesto it is vital to ensure that ministers mired in criminal cases are not allowed to continue in office. To take one example, Prime Minister Vajpayee cannot now pretend that he knew nothing about Buta Singh's involvement in the JMM case. After all, the man had beendenied a ticket by the Congress for this reason, and one of the first things he is reported to have done after being sworn in as Union cabinet minister was to drive to court in response to its summons. So now if Jayalalitha can get Vajpayee to squirm on the issue of ministerial morality, he has only himself to blame.

But what makes Jayalalitha's sudden crusade to cleanse the Augean stables of the Union Cabinet suspect is her larger agenda and she has made no attempt to conceal it. This Salome wants the head of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at all costs, and seems well nigh set to keep dancing until she gets her way. The BJP-led government has, of course, tried to placate the lady in every way possible without going back on its avowed intention of desisting from wielding Article 356 in a loose fashion. The Centre would, understandably, prefer to keep the option of dismissing the state government till the last but it has made its displeasure over Karunanidhi's performance as chief minister clear.Recently Union minister for home L.K. Advani had even issued an ultimatum to the Tamil Nadu government to either crack down on the Islamic militants in the state or face the consequences. To back this up, he also despatched a high-level home ministry team to independently review the security situation there.

The team, incidentally, has reported that it was satisfied with the overall law-and-order situation. What has perhaps added urgency to Jayalalitha's project is the fact that elections to some Tamil Nadu Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled for June, with the process of nominations beginning on May 18. Five of the 14 AIADMK members of the Upper House are due to retire shortly and the present balance of power militates against the AIADMK getting any of its nominees in, even as the DMK's presence is expected to go up by five.

However, if the state government is dismissed such an outcome could be prevented. Jayalalitha is also threatening to launch a popular agitation against the DMK regime, if it fails toreturn by May 31 the land cess it had collected from farmers. All in all, this summer could be a sweltering one for the Vajpayee government, given the winds from the south.