Date:19/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/19/stories/2008021950841100.htm

National

“Floor coordination between BJP and AIADMK possible”

T. Ramakrishnan

NDA leaders will talk to AIADMK: Ravi Shankar Prasad

CHENNAI: Immense possibilities exist for floor coordination in Parliament between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on a host of issues, Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP spokesperson and party in-charge of Tamil Nadu, said on Monday.

Pointing out that there was already a convergence of ideas between the two parties, he told The Hindu over the phone that the NDA leaders would “certainly” talk to the AIADMK representatives on coordination.

The specifics would be worked out later.

LTTE activities

He was asked for his reaction to the AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa’s statement on a private television channel that her party would join hands with like-minded parties in raising the issue of the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Tamil Nadu in the coming session of Parliament.

Mr. Prasad said terrorism/extremism would be among the issues that would be raised. The other issues are “anti-people policies” of the United Progressive Alliance Government on the economic front, “patent discrimination” of the Centre towards the States ruled by the NDA and Ramar Sethu.

In her interview, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that all the political forces in the country once supported the LTTE but the situation changed after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu in May 1991. The opposition to the LTTE was not just because it killed Rajiv Gandhi but also due to its “close ties” with elements such as the Maoists.