As the countdown for polling in the Lok Sabha elections began in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary
J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday proclaimed that only a coalition of regional parties could form the next government at the Centre and revived hopes of cobbling together a third front at the national level in the post-poll scenario.
With this assertion, Jayalalithaa has chosen to effectively counter the campaign launched by the DMK and other parties, including the Left, that the AIADMK and the BJP have a tacit understanding for a post-poll tie up and hence the Chief Minister refrained from criticising the BJP in her campaign.
Though she has dumped the Left from the AIADMK alliance, her latest move certainly makes it clear that the third front option has not been abandoned.
Speaking at an election rally in Arani Parliamentary constituency earlier in the day, the AIADMK supremo said, “In the present scenario at the national level, only a coalition of regional parties can form the next government at the Centre and forming a non-Congress, non-BJP government was the objective of the AIADMK. If the party has to play an important role in the next government, we’ve to win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. For that to happen, you (the voters) should hand out a crushing defeat to... the Congress, BJP, DMK and their alliance parties.”
Though efforts to form a non-Congress, non-BJP front before the LS polls didn’t fructify, now hopes for the same in the post-poll scenario has gained momentum following Jayalalithaa’s statement. Speaking at an election rally in Karur on Sunday, the AIADMK chief had hit out at the Congress and BJP for their betrayal of Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery issue and appealed to the voters to reject both parties. On Tuesday, she went a step further saying that the BJP has no concern for issues confronting Tamil Nadu such as the Cauvery water dispute, Mullaiperiyar dam, Lankan Tamils, problems faced by TN fishermen and Katchatheevu. According to her, this is explicit in the BJP’s election manifesto, which maintains a studied silence on these issues.