Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday afternoon refused to get embroiled in the ongoing political drama in the capital saying her first priority lies in winning all 40 seats in TN and Puducherry.
When asked about her Lok Sabha election plan, especially when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was claiming that the ‘time has come for all the regional parties to come together and form a Federal Front’, Jayalalithaa said, ‘I have already stated very clearly several times and I repeated in your presence that my aim, the aim of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), is to win all 40 seats, 39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry.’
Asked if she planned to align with any of the regional parties for the Lok Sabha elections, she reiterated, ‘I cannot divulge my plans right now. My plans are to win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. That is all I can say for the time being.’
She, however, praised Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, saying, ‘At a personal level, I will only say that Narendra Modi is a good friend of mine and my good wishes are always with him and whether he wins the election in Gujarat or whether he achieves an elevation in his own party, I am happy for him. That is all I have to say.’
When asked about Modi’s appointment as BJP’s national election committee chairman, she said, ‘Coming to the developments in the BJP since yesterday, whatever has happened is purely an internal matter of the BJP. Politically, I do not think it would be proper for me to make any kind of comment on it.’
Jayalalithaa was in Delhi to meet Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia for finalising annual plan 2013-14 for the state.