Jayalalithaa makes first attack on BJP as Modi arrives in Chennai

KARUR: Chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Sunday sprung a surprise by hitting out at BJP, widely perceived to be a prospective post-poll ally, a good one-and-a-half-months after she launched her party's campaign. Speaking in Karur and Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa called on people to ensure that candidates of both BJP and Congress lose their deposits.The AIADMK supremo unleashed the attack on BJP on a day when its prime ministerial Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Chennai and when he is set to step up the party’s campaign in the state with rallies in Krishnagiri, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore and Ramanathapuram.
Addressing election campaigns for her party candidates in Karur constituency and Musiri in Perambalur constituency, Jayalalithaa slammed the BJP and the Congress for not taking steps to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. She recalled that her party pulled out of the BJP-led government at the Centre in 1999 for its ineffectiveness in constituting the Cauvery water authority with the prime minister as its head and the chief ministers of four riparian states as members to implement the interim order of the Cauvery water dispute tribunal (CWDT).
Appealing to the people to ensure that candidates of both the Congress and the BJP lose the deposits in Tamil Nadu, she said, “The Congress and the BJP have equal chances to form the government in Karnataka. In Tamil Nadu, they can never come to power. The BJP’s election manifesto made no mention of the Cauvery water dispute. If the BJP assures that it will bring Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, it cannot win a single seat in Karnataka,” Jayalalithaa said.
Her belated attack on the BJP candidates comes in the wake of a few small Muslim minority groups on Saturday threatening to pull out of the AIADMK-led alliance over her continued silence on the party and Modi during her campaign. Senior AIADMK leaders, including finance minister O Panneerselvam, are said to have personally appealed to the Muslim leaders and advised patience, assuring them that the AIADMK leader would criticize the BJP.
Jayalalithaa’s left comrades, who parted ways on the eve of her campaign launch, have been questioning her silence on the BJP and indicating possible post-poll plans. Her move is also seen as a belated attempt to appease the minority vote bank and parry charges of Left leaders, including CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, who have accused the AIADMK supremo of refraining from attacking the BJP or Modi in anticipation of a post-poll alignment. Even as far back as in October last year, Jayalalithaa sought to make clear that her party would not align with either the BJP or the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections as both parties, she said, had betrayed Tamil Nadu’s interests on the Cauvery issue.
“The Cauvery Water Authority comprising the then prime minister A B Vajpayee and the chief ministers of four states was ineffective and unable to bring about a solution. As the BJP government refused to constitute the fully empowered committee to resolve the issue, I had pulled out of the alliance and the government. So, the BJP formed the authority with the support of the then Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi. But nothing good came about from authority as I predicted,” said Jayalalithaa.
“The Congress-led government at the Centre and BJP regime in Karnataka have been acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of Tamil Nadu. Though they are divided on other issues, they have been following the same principles on the Cauvery water issue. Both the parties are bent on not releasing a single drop of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu,” said Jayalalithaa.
She wondered whether MDMK’s Vaiko, PMK’s S Ramadoss and other allies of the BJP in Tamil Nadu were bothered about the sufferings of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery water issue. She demanded to know whether the NDA allies in the state got an assurance from the BJP that Tamil Nadu would get its due share of Cauvery river water and that the state’s interests would be protected.