ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Jaya hits out at Advani, 'recalcitrant' allies

All India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha last night reiterated her charge that Union Home Minister L K Advani was suffering from "selective amnesia" and administered a stiff warning to her allies that those who try to kick the "ladder" (the AIADMK), which they had used to climb up, would have to regret their acts.

Addressing a mammoth public meeting in connection with the 90th birth anniversary of Dravidian leader C N Annadurai, she reiterated her party's demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the Coimbatore bomb blasts and launched a veiled attack against Advani in this regard.

Jayalalitha, without naming Advani, alleged that some "big men", who had a providential escape in the February 14 blasts which claimed 60 lives, had poured out their anger against the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and vowed to take action against the Karunanidhi government for its failure to prevent the blasts.

But no action had been taken even seven months after the blasts and those "big men" had thrown their promises to the wind.

She also asserted that her party was an indispensable partner of any political coalition, be it in the state or at the Centre.

Addressing a massive public meeting at Tiruchirappalli, she regaled the audience by likening her party to a "mixed vegetable curry" ( koottu) that forms an important part of a meal and not merely the curry leaves, that go into its preparation but are normally discarded at the end.

"Our party is the curry, curry leaves and the vessel used to prepare it", she remarked.

However, no junior partner of the front could think that it was indispensable. The curry would not lose its delicacy even if a particular vegetable was to be left out.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister and Samata Party leader George Fernandes discussed the political situation with Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden home in Madras. The meeting lasted about 90 minutes.

The meeting assumes significance in the wake of the ruling DMK, the AIADMK's arch-rival, moving closer to expressing support to the Vajpayee government at the Centre, in which the AIADMK is a leading constituent, and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee asserting, at a press conference in Madras this morning, that he would welcome support from any quarter.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report