Jayalalithaa praises Sonia, PM

In an indication that she may not be averse to new political alignments, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa yesterday described as "good" Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's decision not to take up the Prime Minister's post and rejected suggestions that she had carried out a personal campaign against her in the elections.

At a press conference here during one of her rare visits, the first after the electoral drubbing, she gave enough hints about her future strategy saying "nothing is static in politics" and that nothing could be said at the moment about what would happen.

Maintaining that she had no alliance with the BJP now, she also said people could see a "new facet" of hers in the days to come but did not elaborate.

After her 35-minute meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she was all praise for him saying he was an "independent person" and suggested he was not a "puppet" Prime Minister.

"It is a good decision," she said when asked to describe the post-electoral action of Gandhi against whom she had launched bitter attacks during the Lok Sabha polls.

"I must point out to you there is no question of any personalised attack against Gandhi. In the heat of the election, some issues come up. It is natural that parties raise these issues relating to governance in the context of elections. "This cannot be interpreted as a personal attack. Why should I attack her on personal grounds," Jayalalithaa said.

When a reporter asked about reports that she was trying to patch up with the Congress, she said "I have not heard anything like this."

In reply to a question, Jayalalithaa said she was a multi-faceted personality."

I had a different facet earlier. In the last 10 years I have changed. You will see different facets of me in the future."

Asked to comment about the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, she said it was a coalition government which was in power because of support from coalition partners.

When a reporter asked her to "rate" the government, she shot back "are you not going to ask about the Prime Minister."

Recalling her interaction with him during her first term in 1996 when he was the finance minister at the Centre, she said she had pleasant memories of those days. "I have always found the Prime Minister to be a perfect gentleman, good personified, a man of great learning who would be very fair."

Asked about her relationship with the BJP, she said "I don't have any allies. The AIADMK is an independent party. No we are not allies (with the BJP). Still it is an issue-based support."

Asked about AIADMK representatives attending the NDA meetings, she said that was because they have been invited. She declined to comment to a question whether the UPA government would last its full term of five years.

She also would not discuss the possible political alignment when Tamil Nadu goes to polls early 2006, but ruled out any possibility of coalition governments in the state.