Talking to media persons at the party headquarters, she pointed out that `a healthy convention' had been evolved whereby the ruling party nominated the Lok Sabha Speaker while the post of Deputy Speaker went to the Opposition. The ruling BJP-led coalition had `voluntarily conceded' the right to have one of its own candidates for the Speakership, she said. No one would have disputed if the BJP had cared to put up its own candidate, she added.

Expressing her unhappiness at the `unilateral decision' by the BJP to support the Telegu Desam Party candidate as the Speaker, she said, ``This was donewithout consultations with the allies who are partners in the coalition Government and despite the fact that the TDP was not a member of the winning alliance and still refuses to join the Government.''

This being the case, a healthy regard for Parliamentary conventions dictates that the Deputy Speaker should be from the opposition, and should not again be a nominee of the BJP, she said. A statement in this regard was also issued to the media.

Asked what her party's stand would be if the ruling BJP coalition decided to put up its own candidate for the post, Jayalalitha merely said, ``Let us wait for a response from the Centre.''

However, her party will support the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill to be introduced in the Parliament in the current session. ``We will vote for it. It is a progressive legislation,'' she said. Replying to a question, she said, ``Our support or opposition (to the Centre) will be based on issues. We will neither support nor oppose blindly.''

Reiterating that her party'ssupport for the BJP-led Government continued, she said, ``Our support depends on issues.'' Reacting to criticisms regarding the uncertainty of party's continued support to the BJP, she said, ``My contribution to the stability of the Government is paramount and substantial. This despite predictions of doom by the media that I will be pulling out of the coalition.''

On her party's decision to join the Dec 11 all-India strike called by the Central trade unions to condemn the policies of the BJP-led Government, Jayalalitha said, ``I do not view it as a move against the Centre. It is an expression of solidarity with the workers and supporting their legitimate demands.'' The `very existence' of the AIADMK was to support the upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden, she said.

There was no going back on her decision to join the strike, she stated firmly. ``We are committed to give the workers a better life,'' she said, pointing out that it was the unions which had called for a strike.

On whether the AIADMK'scontinued alliance with the BJP, despite the latter's poor showing in the recent Assembly polls, could prove to be a set-back to her own party's prospects, she shot back, ``What is most important is stability at the Centre rather than narrow-minded considerations. Whatever we decide, we have only the welfare of the nation at heart.''

Lashing out at the BJP-led Government for not taking up issues with regard to making Tamil and other Indian languages official languages, providing for 69 per cent reservation in Tamil Nadu and introducing the Reservation Bill in the Parliament in the current session, she said the meetings convened by the coordination committee of the ruling coalition have proved to be an `exercise in futility'. There has not been any follow-up on several important matters, she alleged.

`Only I can topple govt'

Jayalalitha today asserted that only the AIADMK had the potential to pull down the ruling BJP-led coalition at the Centre. ``If at all anyone can topple the Government at theCentre, it is only me. I have chosen not to do so now, but I do not know what will happen tomorrow.''