Dinner absence: Jaya says dont read much into it

A day after her party stayed out of a crucial Third Front meeting at Chief Minister Mayawati's residence,AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa....

A day after her party stayed out of a crucial Third Front meeting at Chief Minister Mayawati’s residence,AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa downplayed the absence as a communication gap and said she had no objections to anyone wanting to be prime minister.

“It was not a big issue… there was a communication gap,” she told reporters at her residence on Monday.

Asked about Sharad Pawar and Mayawati’s prime ministerial ambitions,she said it was natural for every party to suggest the names of their leaders. But,Jayalalithaa noted,”the future prime minister will be decided only after the election results are out”.

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The ego tussle between her and Mayawati was widely speculated to have been the reason for her staying away from the dinner.

The AIADMK supremo also said the nation needed a non-Congress,non-BJP Government at the Centre. “The Third Front has bright future,” she said.

There are 40 seats at stake in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,and winning even half of them would give a definitive say to the AIADMK in the formation of the next Government. Jayalalithaa said she was focused on that right now,leaving the question of prime ministership to later.

Jayalalithaa was speaking on the sidelines of a function organised to hand over relief money collected by her party during the recent one-day fast for the welfare of Lankan Tamils.