The Hindu : 'Need for non-Cong., non-BJP alternative'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 03, 2002

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'Need for non-Cong., non-BJP alternative'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, addressing mediapersons at her office in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI Sept. 2. Making clear her intention of playing a bigger role in national politics, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalithaa, today called for a non-BJP, non-Congress alternative at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference here, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the leaders of Opposition parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the CPI and the CPI (M), and the true followers of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, should not support the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, for Prime Ministership. Asking the Opposition leaders to think of an alternative to Ms. Gandhi, she said she was prepared to take the initiative.

Denying that the AIADMK was moving closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had criticised the BJP on several issues, including its decision of not accepting the resignation of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and allowing Foreign Direct Investment in print media.

On the Cauvery issue, the AIADMK leader faulted the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for calling for the working out of details of the pro-rata sharing of distress by September 15. Insisting that the pro-rata sharing of distress had already been worked out, she said that at the meeting of the Cauvery River Authority, the issue was whether it was acceptable to Karnataka.

The fact that Mr. Vajpayee had released his statement on the issue within ten minutes of her walking out of the meeting showed that he had already made up his mind that nothing would come out of the meeting and that he had prepared the statement in advance, she said.

On the efforts to secure the release of the former Karnataka Minister, H. Nagappa, she said she was against any emissaries being sent to the forest brigand, Veerappan. However, the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force would fully cooperate with Karnataka to nab Veerappan. As the fugitive was operating in an area of 17,000 sq km, which was 17 times more than the area of operation of the LTTE chief, V. Prabakaran, it was difficult to nab him.

Ms. Jayalalithaa alleged that Rs. 30 crores had been paid as ransom on the Karnataka side to obtain the release of the film actor, Rajkumar, from Veerappan two years ago. The Tamil Nadu Government had no information on a second cassette being sent by Veerappan.

Asked about the suggestion of the PMK founder, S. Ramadoss, that Veerappan be given general amnesty, she said it amounted to ``treason.'' Veerappan had links with banned organisations such as the LTTE, the TNLA, the TNRT and the Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam. The Government would look into the legal aspects of the issue before taking action against the PMK leader.

Ms. Jayalalithaa also launched another attack on Sonia Gandhi over her ``foreign origin'' issue saying that people should not allow the country to fall into her clutches. Ms. Gandhi, who had not obtained Indian citizenship until 1983, did not have the basic qualifications of ``love and loyalty'' for the country, she said adding that she was prepared to travel the length and breadth of the country to prevent Ms. Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister.

The AIADMK leader said she had boycotted the joint campaign meeting with Ms. Gandhi in August 1999 at Villupuram due to her reservations on the ``foreign origin'' issue. (At that time, Ms. Jayalalithaa had attributed her absence to the delay caused by the presence of crowds along her campaign route). Throughout the press conference, Ms. Jayalalithaa referred to Ms. Gandhi as Antonia Maino Gandhi, and pointed out that Sonia was the name given to her by Indira Gandhi.

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