'Jayalalitha keen on third alternative'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 6. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK leader, Ms. Jayalalitha, today said the recently-formed People's Front was progressing steadily and her party enjoyed cordial relations with two constituents of the Front - CPI and CPI(M).

Ms. Jayalalitha, who called on the CPI general secretary, Mr. A. B. Bardhan, here, told reporters that there was no hitch in AIADMK's ties with the CPI and the CPI(M). On whether the possibility of the AIADMK joining the Front came up at the meeting, Ms. Jayalalitha said the matter was discussed. ``It (People's Front) is making a slow and steady progress and there is time.''

The AIADMK leader had not gone through the Front's Common Minimum Programme, released earlier this month. Mr. Bardhan, who was present, promised to send a copy of the programme to Ms. Jayalalitha. The acceptance of the Front's programme would form the basis of admitting new members, he said.

(Speaking separately to presspersons, Mr. Bardhan later said Ms. Jayalalitha was keen on a third alternative at the national level. She had also said that there was no question of the AIADMK rejoining the National Democratic Alliance.)

'No alliance with any party'

With the Front planning to build a third alternative, independent of the BJP and the Congress, how did Ms. Jayalalitha view the AIADMK-Congress alliance? She said categorically that the AIADMK had no alliance with any party. Alliances had been made at the time of elections and at present there was none.

Ms. Jayalalitha said this was her first meeting with Mr. Bardhan after the recent Assembly elections but her plan to meet the CPI(M) general secretary, Mr. Harkishan Singh Surjeet, could not materialise as he was away. She would talk to Mr. Surjeet later.

Mr. Bardhan said later that during the meeting, the two leaders discussed problems relating to Tamil Nadu, including the banning of organisations, the working of which were not in the national interest, operations against sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, the Cauvery water dispute and falling prices of agricultural commodities like tea, coconut and operations of the cement cartel.

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