When Foes turned Friends

Dr.Subramaniyan Swamy on record said that J.Jayalalitha conspired to murder him 12 times. When he waged a crusade against her government in the first half of 1990s, Jayalalitha wanted to crush him like a mosquito. He also took up the cause of Chandralekha, former IAS officer and present day president of Tamil Nadu unit of Janata party, when she alleged that Jayalalitha was behind an acid attack on her.All that was forgotten on one auspicious day in June 1997 when they both came together to display rank opportunism. It culminated in the fall of Vajpayee led NDA government in 1999.

In a dramatic but not an unexpected development, former Chief Minister and AIADMK (J) general secretary J Jayalalitha on Thursday announced an `understanding' between her party and the Janata Party headed by Subramanian Swamy.The once bitter political foes, Jayalalitha and Subramanian Swamy, met at the AIADMK party headquarters to formally `cement' the recent coming-together of the two parties. ``We have decided to work together,'' Jayalalitha declared at a crowded media conference at her party office after her 30-minute meeting with the Janata Party president, whom she had once said she would ``crush like a mosquito''."Circumstances are different today. This is nothing new in politics, where there are no permanent friends nor foes,'' she replied to a barrage of questions from scribes. Jayalalitha said that she had not tried to `finish' anyone politically. ``It is not a question of profit or loss. It is just that like-minded parties have come together.''The understanding between the two parties would involve ``working and fighting together on issues of common interest. We have already been working together at the ground level. We will continue to fight injustice, protect democracy and people's rights,'' she added.

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