The Hindu : National : Jayalalithaa backs Pawar for PM

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Jayalalithaa backs Pawar for PM

New Delhi: AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, one of the key constituents of the Third Front, on Monday backed Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar for the Prime Minister’s post.

“As far as Sharad Pawar is concerned, he is a senior political leader. He has the necessary political wisdom and maturity and can be a Prime Ministerial candidate,” she told CNN-IBN.

She said no one had specifically sought her support on the issue. As for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, she had already stated that there was nothing wrong in a person aspiring for the Prime Minister’s post. In a democracy, anybody can aspire for the top post, she said.

Asked if these leaders had approached her for her support post-poll, Ms. Jayalalithaa said: “I will cross the bridge when I come to it.”

Reminded by the interviewer of her earlier comment that a good politician kept his or her options open, she said, “very true. I don’t deny that. ”

“Why is Sonia silent?”

She wondered why Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose husband Rajiv Gandhi was killed by the LTTE, was “remaining silent” on DMK chief Karunanidhi’s comments on LTTE chief V.Prabakaran.

“Is she not the Congress president? Is she not the widow of Rajiv Gandhi? Is she not the chairperson of UPA? She should come out with clear, explicit answers to Karunanidhi’s statements.

“She should tell the nation what she feels about it and what she proposes to do about it as Congress president and chairperson of UPA.”

Ms. Jayalalithaa asked the interviewer why she was being asked this question, when it should directed at Sonia Gandhi.

“Our stand is clear”

Reacting to the statement, the Congress said “in case Ms. Jayalalithaa has not been listening since yesterday, we have repeated the principles that Prabakaran is a terrorist, LTTE is a terrorist organisation and if they catch him, apprehend him, they should hand [him] over to us.”

“We are not one-person outfits where the president has to take the mike to speak and react to everything,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told CNN-IBN. “Why don’t you [Ms. Jayalalithaa] for a change say the same three things that we are saying, that Prabakaran is a terrorist, LTTE is a banned organisation and Prabakaran should be handed over to us if he is caught?” — PTI

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