Chennai, Jan. 10 (IANS): Virtually ally-less in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the BJP's doors were open for an alliance in the state in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
"Strong NDA is an article of faith for us. It is not a compulsion. Even when the BJP won a majority on its own, we preferred to run the government with our allies. We cherish our old friends and our doors are always open for parties. But more than political issues, the winning alliance is the alliance of the people," he said.
The Prime Minister's remarks came during his interaction with booth level BJP workers of five parliamentary constituencies of Arakkonam, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Erode and Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
He was replying to a question from one of the workers who said there were rumours that the BJP may ally with the ruling AIADMK, DMK or mega star Rajinikanth, who is yet to float a political party, in the Lok Sabha elections and wanted to know Modi's views.
Modi described the question as interesting and said every mediaperson also wants to know about it.
"Atalji brought a new culture in Indian politics -- that is of successful coalition politics. He gave top importance to regional aspirations. He showed that the Centre and the state can work together for the welfare of our nation.
"But Atalji indeed was in direct contrast to the Congress which has never cared for regional aspirations. Congress ill-treated regional parties, regional aspirations and regional people because they felt that they alone have the right to be in power."
Modi said such was the arrogance of the Congress that in one of their meetings the party passed a resolution that it did not want alliances.
"Even today, when Congress does not find a place in the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, their leaders are back to their arrogance and say we will surprise everyone," he said.
Vajpayee ran a government with a coalition of 21 political parties with different ideologies for six-and-a-half years (one full term and another term of one-and-a-half years).
The Prime Minister said that Tamil Nadu took a plethora of initiatives in sectors from infrastructure to investment and from the social sector to skill development and described how these projects will go a long way in transforming the lives of people.
"No government has done for Tamil Nadu as much as we have. We are working hard to bring a holistic change in the lives of poor across various sectors," he said.
Applauding the hard work and efforts of BJP workers in ensuring a strong and invincible organisation that works for the people first, he said: "The heights that the BJP has reached today are due to the efforts and sacrifices of our workers. Our yesterday was due to workers, our today is due to workers and our tomorrow will be due to workers.
