By IANS,
Chennai/New Delhi : While Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has made her prime ministerial ambitions apparent, her Third Front ally and AIADMK head J. Jayalalitha Monday said she was not in the race for the country’s top job, “at least for now”.
She also said the Third Front has a “bright future”.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, the Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly said: “While we are not in the race for the prime minister’s post, at least for now, our opinion that the prime minister should be elected only after the elections remains unchanged. Anyone can aspire to be prime minister because someone has to be the leader after all.”
“The need of the hour for the nation is a political grouping that is equidistant from the Congress and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). In our opinion, the Third Front has a bright future,” she said.
Asked to react to the prime ministerial ambitions of BSP leader Mayawati and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, she said: “Those are the opinions of the parties concerned.”
Meanwhile, in Delhi, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat allayed speculation that the AIADMK supremo was miffed with the Third Front, saying she was in “constant communication” and was involved in the alliance of non-Congress and non-BJP parties.
“The AIADMK is involved with us. She was not in the meeting (Sunday). But they are involved. We are in constant communication with them,” Karat told reporters after releasing his party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections in New Delhi.
Jayalalitha was not present at the meeting of the Third Front Sunday, though her party’s representative and Rajya Sabha member V. Maithreyan attended the gathering of the Left parties and their alliance partners in Delhi Sunday afternoon.
However, her nominee did not attend the dinner hosted by BSP chief and prime ministerial aspirant Mayawati during which the Third Front discussed the strategies for the Lok Sabha polls.