CPI will accept Jayalalitha as CM

By M. R. Venkatesh

CHENNAI, MAY 2. The CPI lastnight hinted that it would have no difficulty in accepting the AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, as Chief Minister, despite her not contesting, if the AIADMK-led combination was voted to power in the May 10 Assembly elections.

Brushing aside queries raised about Ms. Jayalalitha becoming Chief Minister, after her nomination papers had been rejected, the CPI general secretary, Mr. A. B. Bardhan, said that in the event of the AIADMK-led front winning, ``the Chief Ministerial post will be decided by them (AIADMK) and we will accept it''.

Addressing a public meeting in north Chennai in support of the CPI's Harbour constituency candidate, Mr. D. Pandian, Mr. Bardhan accused the DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, of `putting hurdles' in the way of the AIADMK-led secular front's advancement in Tamil Nadu, whose ``landslide victory is being felt as far as even Assam from where I came last night''.

Alleging that Ms. Jayalalitha had been ``denied the right to contest elections in Tamil Nadu'', while in neighbouring Kerala, Mr. Balakrishna Pillai, a former Minister, had been allowed to contest, Mr. Bardhan wondered at the ``justifications'' given for both the actions by the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. M. S .Gill.

This was not only a legal but also democratic question, namely the right of the leader of a major party to contest, when ``conviction'' of the AIADMK leader had not reached any finality yet, Mr. Bardhan argued. Such methods were `petty' and ultimately the people would decide, he added.

Urging the people to `remove' the Vajpayee Government at the Centre and the Karunanidhi Government in Tamil Nadu as this was a ``significant election'' for both, Mr. Bardhan said the defeat of the BJP-DMK combine here would have all-India ramifications.

Lambasting the various economic policies of the Centre, of which the DMK is part, Mr. Bardhan, in particular, fired several salvos against the Commerce Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, who, throwing open the flood-gates to imports, had distressed not only the farming community, but also retailers.

Mr. Pandian and the CPI(M) State Secretariat member, Mr. V. K. Padmanabhan, spoke.

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