Jaya rules out secret talks outside Third Front

Chennai: AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa has ruled out having any "secret talks" with any party outside the Third Front.

"As of now, we are in alliance with Left parties, PMK, MDMK and others. So, there is no question of bypassing these parties and trying to have secret parleys with other parties. That has not happened at all", she said.

She said, "I am not conducting any kind of negotiations with any other party for  probable post-poll alliance".

Responding to a question about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's overtures to AIADMK for a post-poll tie-up, Jayalalithaa said his remarks had been "rebutted by others in Congress. I have nothing to say on that".

Asked about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark at a news conference in Chennai on Saturday that DMK had been Congress' ally for the past five years and the two parties are fighting the poll together, the AIADMK supremo said, "I don't think it indicates anything. I'm not interested in speculation or any indication".

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When pointed out that the PM did not comment on tie-up with AIADMK, she said "probably, he (the Prime Minister) did not have the permission of the Congress leadership".