By IANS
New Delhi : Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha has called off her meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani, scheduled to be held at Chennai on Sep 20.
The meeting between the two leaders had been fixed two weeks ago when BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is in charge of Tamil Nadu, met Jayalalitha. He had described the meeting as “very fruitful” and had suggested that Advani meet her. Jayalalitha had apparently responded enthusiastically.
But she seems to have had a rethink.
“She called me up today and said that she would be away from the city for the next seven days. Advaniji will be in Tamil Nadu on Sep 19 and 20,” Prasad said Monday.
“She said that after Sep 25 she would be free any day,” he added.
Advani will be in Tamil Nadu Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with the convention of the state unit of the BJP at Tirunelveli. He was to meet Jayalalitha at her Poes Garden residence on his way back.
Prasad did not say what action the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP proposed to take on the Ram Sethu issue and about the party’s stand that the proposed Sethusamudram canal project would destroy a purported bridge that dates back to the Ramayana.
Asked about the possibility of the Ram Sethu issue coming up in the proposed Thirunanvelli convention, Prasad said, “Let us see.”