Well, most critics would say that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo has zimbly done what was expected of her since this Government was formed.

So, why now? If you were moving around in the right quarters in Chennai, that was once Madras, and managed an inside peek into the machinations in Poes Garden, without getting bruised with spiked heels (no, not drunken politicians but shoes), you probably would have an inkling.

The underlying reason is Paranoia, and yes, in this case it has to be spelt with a capital J. Madam Jayalalitha is convinced that the BJP sarkar is not taking any action in keeping at the bay the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In fact, intelligence reports from Tamil Nadu have stated that LTTE activity in the state has escalated over the last few months. With Defence Minister George Fernandes a known LTTE empathiser, Amma, who figures high on the outlawed organisation's hit list, is shivering in her kanjeevaram.

That's why she wants George out. And that's why she was so incensed with Home Minister L K Advani when his Ministry goofed up and allowed Islamic Sevak Sangh leader Abdul Madhani, to be released. That, in itself, is ironic, since Madhani is among the accused in the bomb blasts in the TN town of Coimbatore, where Advani was to attend an election meeting during the campaigning for the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.

But Madam's paranoia does not stop there. She has just stopped having any faith in this Government. All the intermediaries tried by the BJP have retired hurt, from Fernandes himself, to Jaswant Singh, till, in sheer desperation, the party had to fall back on Murli Manohar Joshi. Joshi's credentials? Well, he did play broker in negotiations with another tempestuous politician - Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Other than anything else, Amma has realised that the Government has done everything it could for her by way of the criminal cases against her. It has shifted the cases from the special courts to the regular courts; it has even ``retired'' a judge; and there's little more to be gained therein. In fact, Amma's tactics in keeping the cases pending are masterly (or is that mistressly?). her minions at one point sought to have the voluminous proceedings of the court translated into Tamil from the original English, and then raised a stink when the hard-pressed court had to hire translators, saying that the recruitments contravened reservation norms.

So she's turned to Sonia Gandhi. After all since the Congress' president's late husband was assassination by the LTTE, she would hardly be inclined to be lenient towards that organisation. That's what the seven minutes of intimacy at Subramaniam Swamy's tea party was about as Amma's companion Sasikala sulked in the cosy confines of her hotel room.

But wait here's something more on the hotel scene. Amma, as usual, checked into the Government-run Ashok Hotel in the Capital, since she can no longer use the Tamil Nadu Bhawan since, you never know, the dastardly TN CM M Karunanidhi may have her sambar spiked! But within hours she left in a huff, ostensibly because the hotel lift wouldn't work. And Amma couldn't be expected to climb all those stairs, could she? But little birdies tell us that there may been more, like Amma's suspicion that her phone lines were tapped. So there she was scampering off to the Taj Man Singh.

Okay, how did Amma ensure that she was ``forced'' to quit the BJP coalition? Easy, put forth a set of demands that just could not be delivered on. Like, sack George, reinstate dismissed Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, dismiss the Karunanidhi Government, remove V K Ramamurthy from the Petroleum Ministry and hand it over to her nominee, and crack down on Sun TV. Sun TV? Sun TV is run by Karunanidhi cohort Murasoli Maran's son Kalanidhi. And since her own satellite vehicle, JJ TV (what else!), is defunct and facing prosecution, she wants the competing propaganda vehicle offed as well.

Finally, however, is the icing. Other than paranoia, Amma also revels in her ego. In this case, her sycophants have managed to convince her (not that that would be too difficult) that she would make a fine Prime Minister. That's why she's being sounding off on Kosovo, on the Maruti sell off, on telephone rates, on everything. So that's her endgame - get the BJP to give her that post or get the Congress to do so. Will her ploy work? Will it fail? Watch this space….