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Without naming Narendra Modi, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged the people of Tamil Nadu not to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying it too, like the Congress, had betrayed the state over the Cauvery river waters dispute.
"If Tamil Nadu's rights are to be secured on the Cauvery issue, then people should not vote for the BJP or the Congress in the Lok Sabha election," said Jayalalithaa, while addressing an election rally in Karur, 400 km from Chennai.
"The Cauvery river is Tamil Nadu's lifeline. Both, Congress and BJP-led central governments have the habit of betraying the interests of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue," the Tamil Nadu chief minister said. She also explained the BJP had the compulsion of appeasing the people of Karnataka, which prevented the party from addressing the concerns of Tamil Nadu.
Jayalalithaa's statement suggested she was setting terms for her post-poll support to whichever alliance came to power at the Centre. She said the BJP said nothing in its manifesto about the Cauvery dispute.
