While the LDF committee decided to send a delegation to the Centre and protest against the `anti-Kerala' policies of the Centre, the BJP executive has decided to unleash an aggressive campaign against the `law of the jungle' being enforced by the CPM in Kerala, starting with a Secretariat blockage on December 10.

There is no indication that, like some other Opposition-ruled States, the Kerala Government will keep political rivalries aside and cultivate a good working relationship with the Centre for the benefit of the State. The State had no representation in the last two Vajpayee-led Governments and as such the State Government should consider it a boon to have a son of the soil in the present Vajpayee Ministry.

An opportunity to make a good beginning in thisdirection was squandered by Chief Minister E K Nayanar by his indiscreet remark on the occasion of the maiden visit of O Rajagopal after taking over as Union Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. Nayanar said he didn't feel the compulsion to congratulate Rajagopal on his taking over as Central Minister as Rajagopal is a `Minister from Madhya Pradesh' (from where he got elected to the Rajya Sabha).

To add insult to injury, Nayanar reportedly added that Rajagopal was working under a Cabinet Minister (Ram Jethmalani) who is a lawyer known for defending criminals and that Central ministership was not such a great thing.Nayanar made the remark from the platform of a Study Centre in Kasargod named after the late E M S Namboodiripad who had made a fervent call in his twilight days not to mix politics with development. The dust raised by Nayanar's remark seems to have settled with BJP State president C K Padmanabhan stating that the party would not make it an issue in the light of Nayanar'sadmission that he `doesn't have a history of showing such courtesies to past Central Ministers from Kerala'.

But the remark has vitiated the atmosphere which was earlier conducive for fostering cordial ties between the ruling political leadership of the State and the lone Keralite in the Vajpayee Ministry in the overall interest of the State.

Significantly, the Congress and some LDF constituents, including JD(S) and NCP, have adopted a conciliatory posture. Leaders of the three parties were present at the civic reception accorded to Rajagopal in Kozhikode yesterday and were very lavish in their priase of Rajagopal as a man of integrity and ideological commitment.

The equation between the LDF Government and the past two Union Governments led by Vajpayee was not all that good. Nayanar did not share a platform with Vajpayee on a visit to the State during his earlier tenure as Prime Minister and also did not attend, under some pretext, some of the crucial meetings convened by the Prime Minister to discussnational issues.