AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday dropped hints that she was not averse to aligning with the Congress if it dumped the DMK. The newly elected CM, however, discounted the possibility of an immediate realignment of political forces, saying that those needing her support should approach her.
Continuing her tirade against the DMK, Ms Jayalalithaa trained her guns on Union textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran who belongs to the party, demanding his resignation from the Union Cabinet for his alleged role in the Aircel-Maxis deal. She said if he doesn’t step down on his own, the Prime Minister should drop him.
Ms Jayalalithaa, who was addressing a press conference in New Delhi, said it would not be appropriate on her part to call on Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi as the Congress and DMK continue to be partners in the UPA. “In such a situation, it would not be appropriate for me to call on Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who is also the Congress president,” she said.
When asked if she was hesitating to align with the Congress as it was “weak”, Ms Jayalalithaa shot back: “If anyone wants my support, they have to ask me. You cannot ask on their behalf.” Pressed further, she said, “It is premature to comment on such questions. No one from the UPA has asked me this.”
Yet another obstacle to a possible Congress-AIADMK alliance could be the fact that there is no love lost between Ms Jayalalithaa and Congress leader and Union home minister P. Chidambaram, against whom she launched a scathing attack at her press conference, dubbing his 2009 Lok Sabha election victory “fraudulent”. AIADMK sources said Ms Jayalalithaa would consider aligning with the UPA not only if the Congress snapped its ties with the DMK but also completely marginalised Mr Chidambaram. Sources added that she has not forgiven Mr Chidambaram for always having been anti-AIADMK and for having tried to scuttle her chances of becoming CM for a second time in 2001 when he broke away from the then Tamil Maanila Congress, which had forged an alliance with her.
Asked about the offer of support she had made to the UPA in November 2010, Ms Jayalalithaa said the situation then was entirely different. She said, “The offer was made seven months ago. The situation was entirely different. After that much water has flowed under the bridge. The Congress has made it clear that its alliance continues with the DMK. Both are still partners in the UPA coalition government. So, the question of my offering support simply does not arise.”
Rejecting DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s remark that she was vindictive, Ms Jayalalithaa said, “We are not looking for any opportunity to file cases, we are more interested in the development of the state,” adding, “All the cases against the DMK and its members have been initiated by the Centre, of which DMK is a partner. None of the cases were filed either by me or by party members.” The AIADMK leader said many DMK leaders are already in jail and that “many more are likely to go to jail”.
Earlier, Ms Jayalalithaa called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and presented a memorandum in which she sought the assistance of the Centre for various developmental projects in her state. Prominent among them was a demand for an additional 1000 MW of power from the Central grid. She also proposed sending a team of Tamil Nadu MLAs to Sri Lanka to see for themselves the condition in which the Sri Lankan Tamils were living.