The Hindu : `Talk of third front premature'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 12, 2003

National

National

`Talk of third front premature'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 11. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today made it clear that it was "premature" to talk of the formation of a third front in the country and indicated that the issue would best be discussed after the Assembly elections later this year were over.

At a news conference here, Ms. Jayalalithaa indicated that only after the elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, would the leaders of national and major political parties begin to "think and talk" of a third front.

Ms. Jayalalithaa was here for a meeting with the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant. Significantly, it was the Mr. Singh, who called on Ms. Jayalalithaa, at Tamil Nadu House in Chanakyapuri. However, she suggested that no political significance could be attached to the meeting.

The Chief Minister said she had sought a "business" meeting with Mr. Singh at his office in North Block but the latter had instead agreed to meet her at Tamil Nadu House. "No political message was carried", she emphasised.

Dismissing reports that the AIADMK appeared to be moving closer to the BJP as a perception of the media, she said the party was not moving in any direction but stood "where it was". The AIADMK was giving issue-based support to the BJP-led NDA Government.

Ms. Jayalalithaa also argued that her party and government enjoyed "undiminished popular support" in the State.

This could be gauged from the results of the Assembly byelections held during the last two years. The verdict was "ample testimony" that the people of Tamil Nadu understood the reasons for carrying out fiscal reforms. She dismissed the possibility of the emergence of a third front in Tamil Nadu under the Congress as next to nil and asserted that only a front led by the AIADMK could win the support of the people.

The AIADMK leader rejected the idea of campaigning for the Assembly elections later this year. The party was more concerned about which party or parties formed the government at the Centre.

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