The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “We will treat Ramadoss with respect”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“We will treat Ramadoss with respect”

Special Correspondent

If Pattali Makkal Katchi decides to return to AIADMK-led alliance: Jayalalithaa

— Photo: M. Vedhan

WELCOMING THEM: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa interacting with people who joined the AIADMK from other parties, in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday said her party would welcome the Pattali Makkal Katchi led by S. Ramadoss if it decided to return to the AIADMK-led alliance.

Asked about the “growing discord” between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the PMK, Ms. Jayalalithaa told reporters here that if Dr. Ramadoss chose to join the alliance led by the AIADMK, “we will receive him with affection and he will be treated with due respect and honour.”

Offer denied

She denied that the National Democratic Alliance had made an offer of support to the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) in the election to the post of Vice-President, if it backed Mr. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the Presidential poll.

The UNPA would finalise its strategy for the Presidential election in a few days at a meeting to be hosted by Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala in New Delhi.

On her recent meeting with Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh in Chennai, Ms. Jayalalithaa said issues related to the Presidential and the Vice-Presidential polls were discussed.

Ms. Jayalalithaa described her meeting with All India Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee as friendly.

Asked if Ms. Banerjee invited her for a rally in Kolkata on July 21, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, “She did. I have many commitments here. I may not be able to go [there] at such a short notice.”

She criticised Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for not taking up with his Karnataka counterpart, the issue related to the neighbouring State’s decision not to release Cauvery water from the Krishnaraja Sagar dam.

To another query, she said the ongoing cooperative elections should be annulled and fresh polls ordered after enrolling new members on the basis of merit.

“Massive fraud”

Terming the cooperative elections “massive fraud”, she said the existing electors were not genuine members.

On the recent statement by Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja that the Government would not allow BSNL to purchase equipment to provide 45.5 million cellular lines at the rates quoted by the lowest bidder, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, “Since the charge has been made by a DMK Minister himself, we have to believe it.”

A lot of things had to be explained to the public on why this “shocking revelation” was made so late, she said.

It only showed that so long as the then Minister for Communications Dayanidhi Maran was in the good books of Mr. Karunanidhi, the deal, which might have caused a loss of Rs.10,000 crore to the exchequer, was considered all right and tolerable, she added.

Ms. Jayalalithaa briefly interacted with activists who joined the AIADMK from other parties.

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