'Good politician' Jaya keeps options open

NEW DELHI: AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa may have denied ���back channel negotiations��� with the BJP, but she is keeping her post-poll political options open.

���A good politician does not rule out anything. It is too premature to talk of post-poll alliances,��� Ms Jayalalithaa said and added that the chief concern now was the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre.

Ms Jayalalithaa told TimesNow that she would consult her allies and other like minded parties on the stand to be taken on government formation after the election. Although the Left parties are expected to stick to their stand of not supporting a government led by the Congress or the BJP, other parties in the AIADMK-led alliance are not to known to take strong ideological positions.

The PMK, which was part of the NDA and the UPA, can be expected to take an independent call on its preference after the poll.

In the interview, the AIADMK chief said she had no ���personal ambition��� to become the prime minister. ���I have no personal ambition. I want our country to have its rightful role as a superpower in the comity of nations,��� she said.

On the Sri Lankan conflict, Ms Jayalalithaa said the Central and the state governments failed miserably to handle the ethnic violence and stop the killing of Tamils in the island nation. ���There is a strong feeling that there should be an end to the war.���

She said people of Tamil origin in Sri Lanka continued to face hardships. Reacting to comments made by Vaiko on the violence in Sri Lanka, she said the MDMK leader has always maintained this line. ���He has said nothing new as far he is concerned. Even when his party was in alliance with the Congress earlier, he had taken a similar stand then. We have to take it (Vaiko���s comments) on face value,��� she said.