All India Anna DMK general secretary J Jayalalitha, who had dismissed “speculative reports” of her moving close to the BJP, on Sunday expressed her displeasure over leaders of the newly-formed United National Progressive Alliance of seven regional parties, making unilateral announcements on key issues like the Indo-US nuclear deal and wondered whether the UNPA continued to exist.
In a statement here, she disagreed with Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh’s views on a mechanism to take on board parties other than the left and the UPA, if a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to study the nuke deal issue is not possible.
Ms Jayalalitha said, “This new view-point was never dicussed between the constituents of the UNPA, certainly not with the AIADMK and this cannot be termed as the collective view of the UNPA.”
Explaining the AIADMK view, Ms Jayalalitha said there could only be one single mechanism to such a crucial national issue, irrespective of how many parties are in it.
“The Indo-US nuke deal is a national issue, which cannot permit promotion of any sectional view, and cannot be split into parts,”she added.
She also noted that only the Samajwadi Party and the TDP were invited to join the protest rally organised by the left parties against India’s joint Naval Exercises with the US.
“These two parties did not bother to inform the AIADMK about the rally or their participation in it,” she said. These developments,” she said, “make me wonder whether the AIADMK is still a part of the UNPA or whether the UNPA continues to exist as one entity at all.”
The UNPA, a front comprising the AIADMK, the TDP, the Samajwadi Party, INLD and AGP, has been facing problems ever since its inception, at a conclave at Ms Jayalalitha’s residence. They could not agree on a leader. Then they pitched for a second term for Dr Abdul Kalam when he was totally disinclined. Ms Jayalalitha then left it to her party MPs and MLAs to vote according to their conscience ( a signal to vote for BJP candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat) and  later came out with a convoluted explanation.
When Congress spokesman Abishekh Singhvi openly accused Ms Jayalalitha of instigating the BJP to stall Parliament proceedings over the nuclear deal and that Mr L K Advani was keeping in touch with her, she came out with a bland denial, dismissing reports of her party moving closer to the  BJP, as mere speculation.
But her latest statement that there can be only one mechanism (read JPC) to study the deal, is similar to the view of the BJP.