2009 Poll Prospects And Alignments-2

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<b>Neither BJP nor Congress would gain majority at Centre: Swamy</b>

Press Trust Of India
Chennai, December 09, 2008

Regional parties like the AIADMK and BSP would play an active role in forming a government at the Centre after next year’s Lok Sabha elections, as neither the BJP nor the Congress would gain a majority, Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy said in Chennai on Tuesday.

“The AIADMK in particular will become a major challenger. Besides BSP, Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party could also win enough seats (to play a role in government formation),” he told reporters here.

Swamy evaded a direct reply when asked whether he would forge an alliance with AIADMK, saying that he would not go in for an alliance with the DMK.

“I have intellectual respect for Jayalalithaa for her courage and determination to fight
terrorism,” Swamy, an open critic of the LTTE, said.

The AIADMK was “well-positioned” to win most of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry, Swamy said.

On the spectrum allocation issue, he said he had sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “sanction” to initiate legal proceedings against Union IT Minister A Raja under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He would wait till February 2009 for going ahead before getting Singh’s “sanction”.

Asked whether India should attack Pakistan citing its alleged role in the Mumbai terror attacks, Swamy, a former Union Law Minister, said, “I am in favour of retaliatory attack.”

“If the attacks originated from Pakistan, India can attack. But be prepared for retaliation from Pakistan,” he added.