CHENNAI, Dec 9: The BJP would have alliance with any party that was willing to back its leader Atal Behari Vajpayee as the next Prime Minister, party deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha O Rajagopal said on Monday.

He told mediapersons that ``the stand remains the same. We will strike an alliance with whoever is prepared to make Vajpayee the PM. But, we have not discussed this matter with any party so far.''

These issues would be discussed at the national executive meeting to be held at Bhubaneshwar from Dec 19 to 21. The BJP state election committee would meet on Dec 14 to work out the local nitty-gritties, and the report would be submitted at the national meeting.

On alliances with TN parties, he said that the BJP stand would hold good at the State-level also. ``We consider neither the DMK nor the AIADMK as anti-national,'' he said. However, Rajagopal urged the TN parties to ``learn a lesson, that assistance to the LTTE, for whatever reason, had resulted in a tragedy, leading to a political turmoil at the national level. This should not be repeated now in the context of providing assistance and patronage to religious, terrorist organisations operating in TN.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.