Former Union Minister M K Alagiri met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, setting off speculation that he was exploring political options prior to the Lok Sabha polls. However, Alagiri, who played down the meeting as ‘courtesy call’, did not deny that “when two politicians meet politics does get discussed.”
Sources said that the PM did ask him whether he had plans to contest the elections. On record, Alagiri denied he has any intention of contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
His political ambition currently seemed to be centered round his plans of floating a new party before the next Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. But his making the rounds of political parties at this juncture had tongues wagging. More so, as he met the BJP President Rajnath Singh at his residence late Wednesday night and chose to keep his Delhi visit under wraps, till the very end. Alagiri said that he had worked in Singh’s Cabinet for four years and therefore had to thank him. The PM, he said, enquired about his father’s health and lamented the fact that DMK walked out of the UPA alliance after nine years.
According to Alagiri, the main reason of his visit was to request the PM to name the airport in Madurai, his political stronghold, after Muthuramalinga Thevar. “I thanked the Prime Minister for the support he had extended during my tenure in the Union Cabinet. I told him that with his support and guidance I had contributed a lot to Tamil Nadu and the country,” he said.