M A I N   N E W S

BJP, AIADMK join hands for LS poll

Chennai, January 28
Burying the five-year-long hatchet and animosity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the AIADMK today reached an understanding to ‘’work together’’ for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu.

BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu struck the deal after an hour-long talk with AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at the latter’s Poes Garden residence here this morning.

Making an identical statement at an impromptu joint press conference at the portico of Ms Jayalalithaa’s residence, the two leaders said ‘’we have decided to work together for the Lok Sabha elections,’’ even as the AIADMK supremo remained non-commital on joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

‘’I have nothing more to add, except saying that we have decided to work together,’’ she said, indicating that there would be no formal alliance between the two parties in the state.

Later, addressing a separate press conference, Mr Naidu said they did not discuss issues like the AIADMK joining the NDA.

To a question, he cited the example of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) extending outside support to the NDA government at the Centre, even while not being a part of it.

Ms Jayalalithaa, however, made it clear that she would accept Mr A.B. Vajpayee as the prime ministerial candidate.

He said the BJP state unit, comprising party general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu L. Ganesan, party state president C.P. Radhakrishnan and party National Executive member M.N. Sukumaran Nambiar, would shortly hold talks with the AIADMK team, comprising Finance Minister C. Ponnaiyan, Public Works Minister O. Panneerselvam and Electricity Minister D. Jayakumar and work out the details like the number of seats to be shared and identification of constituencies.

While Mr Naidu was accompanied by Mr Nambiar, Ms Jayalalithaa was assisted in the talks by her senior Cabinet colleagues Ponnaiyan, Panneerselvam and Jayakumar.

Only two months ago, Ms Jayalalithaa had declared on the floor of the Assembly that she would strive for a non-BJP and non-Congress government at the Centre, but later changed her stand, stating that ‘’politics itself means change and flexibility.’’

After she gave the indication on January 17 that the AIADMK was willing to forge a tie-up with the BJP, Mr Nambiar called on her last week and prepared the ground work, following which Mr Naidu called on her today and finalised the deal.

Stating that he was happy that the BJP and the AIADMK had come to an understanding, Mr Naidu claimed that going by the mood of the people, Tamil Nadu would rally behind the NDA and Mr Vajpayee.

Asked whether the AIADMK demanded Deputy Prime Ministership for Ms Jayalalithaa, the BJP leader, addressing a separate press conference at party headquarters, said: ‘’Nobody asked for it nor have we discussed about it”.

Coming down heavily on the Congress-DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, Mr Naidu said the people of the state were amazed that the Congress, after making a very serious charge linking the DMK in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, had joined hands with the party now. This was nothing but opportunistic, he charged.

The Congress had even written to the President about DMK leaders’ alleged collusion with the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi. After making a serious allegation, the party had stalled the proceedings in Parliament and withdrew support to the I.K. Gujral government, for the mere reason that the DMK was part of the government. Even after Jain Commission’s final report, the party maintained the charge, he pointed out.

Mr Naidu dismissed as ‘’old issues’’ when asked whether the BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK was not opportunistic as its leader was highly critical of the NDA Government in the past four years. — UNI