Jayalalitha to meet PM today

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 4. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha, was today given a rousing reception at the airport on her first visit to the capital after assuming office. She was accompanied by her close aide, Ms. N. Sasikala.

In a chat with presspersons, she said she would be meet the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, tomorrow and ``it is purely a routine call.''

It was customary to call on the Prime Minister after being sworn in as the Chief Minister. ``I am also meeting the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, and the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi,'' she said.

Asked whether she would take up with the Prime Minister the issue of filing corruption cases against the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, based on the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, she said ``it will not be proper for me to discuss things with the media even before I could talk to the Prime Minister.''

She declined to answer a question on the Supreme Court's notice earlier in the day on a batch of writ petitions challenging her appointment as Chief Minister.

Ms. Jayalalitha was received by the AIADMK MPs led by the leader of Lok Sabha, Mr. P.H. Pandian and the Education Minister, Mr. M. Thambi Durai, and others. A large number of party volunteers had thronged the airport and cries of ``Puratchi Thalaivi Vazhga'' (long live the revolutionary leader) rent the air.

Ms. Jayalalitha, who is meeting the Prime Minister at his residence tomorrow morning, will call on Mr. Narayanan in the afternoon.

She is to meet Ms. Sonia Gandhi in the evening. On June 6, Ms. Jayalalitha is scheduled to meet the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr. K.C. Pant.

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