LEGISLATURE PARTY MEETING: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa at the meeting at party headquarters in Chennai on Friday. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: The All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on Friday said her party would be a strong Opposition.

Answering questions after a meeting of the AIADMK's newly elected MLAs, Ms. Jayalalithaa said her party was an Opposition that had bagged 61 seats besides increasing its vote share without a strong alliance.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the results did not mean the end of single-party rule in the State. The future belonged to the AIADMK, and the DMK did not have any future, she said. The AIADMK would not be wished away. Mr. Karunanidhi was susceptible to pulls and pressures, she said.

The new DMK Government would ruin the State's economy just as the previous DMK Government had done in 1996, she said. Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had decided to keep away from the Assembly for good reasons but DMK president M. Karunanidhi had no reason to stay away. He was neither harmed nor attacked but she had been at the receiving end during the DMK rule, she said.

On the conciliatory note struck by Mr. Karunanidhi, she said, "He has never meant what he says. Let us see what he does."

Later addressing party workers and supporters at the AIADMK headquarters she said it was a "sad day" and a setback for the State. The party would certainly return to power as it did in 2001, she added.

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