BJP didn't explore Modi-Jaya meeting

The BJP didn't explore the possibility of a meeting between its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, the BJP said Sunday. "Modi came here yesterday evening and addressed a rally... To the best of my knowledge there was no attempt to fix up a meeting with Jayalalithaa," a BJP leader told IANS.

The leader said the Gujarat chief minister met Jayalalithaa in Chennai in 2011 at her swearing in ceremony. But they seem to have drifted apart politically in recent times. Modi addressed a public rally in Tiruchirapalli in September and delivered the Nani Palkhivala lecture in Tamil Nadu in October. Both times he didn't meet Jayalalithaa, the BJP official said.

On Saturday, Modi met MDMK general secretary Vaiko at the ITC Grand Chola Hotel. The MDMK has aligned with the BJP for the lok Sabha election. The BJP is also wooing the DMDK of actor-turned-politician A. Vijayakant. The AIADMK has announced an alliance with the bitterly anti-Modi left for the general election.