LK, Jaya meet, decide to ‘coordinate’
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani held talks with Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa for 20 minutes at the secretariat here on Thursday and laid the foundation for the NDA-AIADMK coordination in choosing the presidential candidate.
Mr Advani told reporters that the presidential election this time witnessed “unprecedented confusion and certainty”. He would not comment further since the NDA would be meeting on Friday in New Delhi He said the NDA would work closely with the AIADMK on this issue — a sentiment reiterated by Ms Jayalalithaa when she spoke to reporters later.
Mr Advani, who was in the city as part of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, called on Ms Jayalalithaa and sought her support on the issue of choosing the presidential candidate. “All names figured... it doesn’t need elaboration... we will coordinate and see to it that the decision as to who is the President of the country is taken properly and we will coordinate with all parties,” he said.
This development comes close on the heels of UPA ally Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and its supporter Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav proposing three names and rejecting the Congress’ choice of Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Dr Hamid Ansari.
“The developments in New Delhi yesterday, particularly Mamataji meeting Soniaji and subsequently Mamataji and Mulayam Singh taking a stand in respect of presidential poll, has made the situation very dicey,” Mr Advani said, adding: “I have never seen any earlier government handling an important election like the presidential election so clumsily in such a manner that its position gets worse day by day.”
The UPA government has been suffering from a “paralysis in decision-making” since scams broke out two-and-a-half years ago, he added.
Agreeing with his views, Ms Jayalalithaa, who later spoke to reporters separately, said Wednesday’s events showed that the issue had been “watched very badly” by the Congress.
The BJP leader said that Ms Jayalalithaa had phoned him a few days back to convey to him that she and Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik have decided to support NCP leader P.A. Sangma. “Mr Sangma also met me two days back. All these issues we discussed (today),” he said, without clarifying if the NDA would support Mr Sangma.
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