Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday reiterated that her party would go it alone in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and said the party was aiming to win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
But she described Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was elevated as the Chairman of the Campaign Committee of the BJP, as her good friend and she said she had good wishes for him.
Talking to journalists here on Monday after attending a a Union Planning Commission meeting, Ms. Jayalalithaa, answering a question on alliance, said: “I’ve already stated very clearly several times and I repeat in your (media) presence that my aim, the aim of the AIADMK, is to win all the 40 seats, 39 in Tamil Nadu and 1 in Puducherry. So where was the question of an alliance?”
On the developments in the BJP, she said, “Whatever happened is purely an internal matter of the BJP. Politically, I don’t think it would be proper for me to make any kind of comment on it. But at a personal level, I will only say that Mr. Narendra Modi is a good friend of mine, my good wishes are always for him and whether he wins the election in Gujarat or whether he achieves an elevation in his own party, I am happy for him.”
Rajya Sabha polls
About the ensuing Rajya Sabha polls, for which she had already released names of her party candidates for five out of six seats, she said whatever she wanted to say had already been said in a statement. “I have nothing more to add”.
She refused to comment on her meeting with CPI leaders A.B. Bardhan and D. Sudharakara Reddy here, who called on her to seek the AIADMK’s support for their candidate. Mr. Bardhan merely told journalists after the meeting: “She (Ms. Jayalalithaa) told us she has declared (her candidates for) five seats and hopes to win those five. She wished us well for the election.”
She also informed them that the AIADMK would not have many extra votes to share.
