CHENNAI: Setting the stage for a possible realignment of political forces for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader LK Advani, on Saturday, heaped praises on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and said that his party regarded the AIADMK as a “natural ally”. Speaking here at the annual meeting of Tamil magazine Thuglaq, Advani said though the AIADMK was not formally a part of his party led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the informal cooperation it had with the AIADMK in Parliament was ‘total.’ Advani said after a bomb blast was averted on his yatra route last year near Madurai, Jayalalithaa had told him that she would not have forgiven herself if something amiss had happened.“She said it was providence that had saved me and that she would not have forgiven herself if something had happened.I express my deep gratitude to her. I was touched by her words.” Quoting Jayalalithaa’s stringent criticism of the Union government at the National Development Council meeting, in which she slammed the Centre for seeking to reduce States into glorified municipal corporations, he said the 45-year rule of the Congress at the Centre and in several States had weakened federalism, which was a basic feature of the Constitution.“This is part of basic structure of Parliament which cannot be amended even with a two-thirds majority.Even this was weakened.” Harping on the BJP’s refrain of “Centre is discriminating non-Congress ruled States,” the BJP leader again quoted Jayalalithaa at the NDC meet: “These meetings are ritualistic, and the UPA is hell-bent on penalising the non-Congress governments.” To buttress his argument, Advani said the Centre had asked the public sector industries not to participate in a conclave held by the Gujarat government recently to attract investment and further industrial growth.
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