BJP leaders reaching out to Jayalalithaa could not be construed as being soft, said P. Muralidhar Rao, national general secretary of the party, here on Tuesday.
“We never treat our political competitors as enemies. In Tamil Nadu, the problem is that you are hostile to the Opposition. Talking to leaders and coordinating on issues cannot be taken as aligning with them,” he said.
The BJP, which believed in cooperative federalism, felt that development was important irrespective of the party in power in the State. But it would not prevent it from being critical of the “misdeeds and misgovernance” of the ruling party. In Tamil Nadu, corruption was a common to both the AIADMK and DMK, which were not able to provide good governance.
Mr. Rao said that only three parties -- Karnataka government, Subramanian Swamy and the DMK -- could take a decision to go on appeal in the disproportionate assets case against Ms. Jayalalithaa and the BJP had no locus standi in it.
“Talking to leaders and coordinating on issues cannot be taken as aligning with them”
