The Hindu : Talks with AIADMK on: Fernandes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Talks with AIADMK on: Fernandes

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 14. The Defence Minister and NDA convener, George Fernandes, today said talks for forging an alliance with the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha elections were on and yet to ``conclude''.

``I am not privy to the actual details of the alliance talks. But I know that there has been no conclusion yet,'' Mr.Fernandes told reporters at the Chennai airport.

Mr.Fernandes, who arrived from Port Blair en route to Mumbai, said the talks were on both at the national and State levels.

Asked what would be the main election plank of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Fernandes said that under the leadership of A.B. Vajpayee, the National Democratic Alliance-led BJP had ``amply demonstrated'' that it could provide a ``stable and successful coalition Government.''

The NDA had tackled both national and international issues effectively. He elaborated on the government initiatives for normalising relations between India and Pakistan, besides opening up official-level dialogue with China.

The Chinese Defence Minister was expected to arrive next week. The Indo-Chinese relations would further improve especially in highway and railway connectivity.

On his meeting with Vaiko, general secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Mr.Fernandes said there was no political significance. ``I was keen to meet him after his release from the Vellore jail (on bail in a POTA case), though I had visited him thrice in the prison. Since, there were conflicting press reports about his health condition, I wanted to meet him. I was happy to see that he was in good spirits.''

No hurry to forge alliance: Jaitley

Meanwhile, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Arun Jaitley, said the BJP was in no hurry in forging alliances with the regional parties including the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, as the Election Commission had not yet announced the poll dates.

Mr.Jaitley, who arrived here along with the Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel, from New Delhi , said there were three main planks on which the BJP would fight the elections — the leadership, the comfort factor and a coherent agenda.

The ``feel good factor'' was an important barometer. ``We would step up our election campaign on our positive programmes and policies. We are keen to see the resurgence of India growing,'' Mr.Jaitley said adding coalition politics was ``here to stay''.

Poser to Congress

Later, addressing a public meeting here, Mr. Jaitley asked why the Congress alliance was "apologetic" about announcing who its leader was. "Why should the leader suddenly hide behind a purdah?" The country had a right to know who (if the Congress alliance was voted to power) would handle the Kashmir issue and whose thumb would be on the nuclear button.

The BJP-led NDA was seeking re-election on the strength of its "performance" and the pervasive "feel good factor", while the Congress had to offer only a "feel pain" factor. The Congress had a stable alliance only in Bihar and its electoral tie-ups in Tamil Nadu were only a "new experiment," Mr. Jaitley said, wondering whether that party would follow the "non-performance" agenda of its Bihar ally.

In the past five years of the NDA Government, the country had marched ahead in all sectors and the most significant achievement of Mr. Vajpayee was his success in instilling among Indians confidence in themselves.

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