Who will go with whom?

(December 06, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Now that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa has rolled out a red carpet for the comrades, it means that the doors have been virtually shut for the BJP leaders of which had been expressing hope till the recent past to forge an alliance with the main Opposition party in the State.

Also, giving scope to a fresh guessing game, Jayalalithaa told reporters: ‘Wait and see’ when they asked her in Chennai yesterday about the possibility of joining hands with the PMK too for the forthcoming Parliamentary polls.

In addition, the fledgling DMDK of actor Vijayakanth too is no less inferior in garnering the attention of political pundits, as the party managed to secure a considerable share of votes in the past elections.

As a result, all eyes are now on the saffron party, the Vanniyar- backed outfit and the actor-politician’s party, as the leaders of these three parties are yet to come out with a clear picture on the alliance partners.

Meanwhile, reports say that a wide range of issues were discussed by CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Jayalalithaa in an hour-long meeting at Poes Garden. The leaders discussed issues including the ongoing economic crisis, terror attack in Mumbai, Sri Lankan Tamils issue and the general political scenario in the country.

Both the parties had tied up for the 2001 Assembly polls before Left withdrew from the coalition and the AIADMK was left with MDMK as its only ally.

The development comes days after CPI general secretary A B Bardhan met Jayalalithaa to discuss the possibility of an alliance and the CPI is expected to follow suit as the two Left parties have said they ‘will go together’ in the elections.

Sharing a similar stand with the Left parties in opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal and on issues like inflation and price rise, Jayalalithaa slammed the Congress-led UPA at the Centre by saying, ‘we need a strong government that would put the economy back on track.’ - Sri Lanka Guardian