Jayalalithaa keeps post-poll options open

Keeping her post-poll options open, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa said on Tuesday that it was premature to talk of what will happen after the elections, but a "good politician never rules out anything."

"There is no question of conducting talks with any other party on a probable post-poll alliance," the former Tamil Nadu chief minister said when asked to comment on Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani saying that his party has opened back channels with AIADMK for a possible post-poll tie-up. She had refuted Advani's claim on Monday.

"A good politician never rules out anything," she said when asked whether she was distancing from the BJP. She said as of now her party was in an alliance with Left parties, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Patali Makkal Katchi in Tamil Nadu and was working to install a non-Congress and non-BJP government at the Centre.

Jayalalithaa, whose party fought the 2004 Lok Sabha polls in an alliance with the BJP, also said she was not in the race for prime ministership as she "doesn't have any personal ambitions".

"It is premature to talk of post-poll alliance as of now. As such, it will stand to reason after the election results we will engage in a discussion with Left parties, our electoral allies and other like-minded parties. But, it is premature to speculate anything on that now," she told television channels.

On Vaiko's inflammatory speeches in support of the banned Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam, Jayalalithaa said it was nothing new for the MDMK chief, who has been making such statements for the past many years.

"Vaiko's party has been in an alliance with the BJP, Congress and the DMK. Why such questions were not raised then," she asked. She accused the UPA and the DMK governments of failing "miserably" in trying to solve the Sri Lankan ethnic issue.