JP is exploring ways and means to bring the AIADMK, the third-largest party in the Lok Sabha, into the NDA fold. The party might broach the topic with AIADMK supremo J.
JP is exploring ways and means to bring the AIADMK, the third-largest party in the Lok Sabha, into the NDA fold. The party might broach the topic with AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa during her visit to the national capital later this month.
Highly placed sources in the BJP said the AIADMK’s presence in the NDA would give more credence to the alliance as the only anti-Congress force. A senior BJP leader, who is voicing in party forums his opinion in favour of making the AIADMK part of the NDA, said the Dravidian party is, for all practical purposes, an ally of the BJP.
“Though she is not part of the NDA, she is a trusted friend and ally. She and her party have been supporting us on almost all issues both inside and outside Parliament. It would really be good to have her with the NDA, but the decision is eventually left to Ms Jayalalithaa,” the leader said.
The AIADMK, whose combined strength in both Houses of Parliament is 50, has been bailing out the BJP government in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks a majority. The AIADMK has been supporting crucial bills of the NDA government in the Upper House and the bonhomie between Ms Jayalalithaa and top leaders of the BJP — be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi or finance minister Arun Jaitley or parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu — is well-known.
Politics would obviously be on the talks agenda when Ms Jayalalithaa calls on PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi later this month, BJP sources said, adding that the possibility of the AIADMK joining the ministry is ruled out.
Since Ms Jayalalithaa shares an excellent rapport with NDA partners like Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the BJP would face no problem in accommodating the AIADMK if the party takes a final decision in this regard, political analysts said.
Senior BJP leader L. Ganesan said the AIADMK has been extending “issue-based cooperation” to the NDA government. “NDA already exists. The AIADMK has been extending issue-based support to the NDA. But for this (the AIADMK joining the NDA) I have no information from my side,” he said.
