Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said today (Jan 19, 2004) that she was not in the race for the Prime Ministership.

"I derive happiness and pride in being the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," she said in a statement.

Rebutting a news item in an English daily from Kolkata which quoted Rajya Sabha MP and Tamil satirist Cho Ramaswamy as saying that "her dream of becoming Prime Minister by being in a strong bargaining position with a good chunk of the 40 seats was impractical, particularly after the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) swept the polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh".

Her recent call to AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) cadres to win the maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls was only to ensure that "we are able to secure Tamil Nadu's rights and obtain more benefits from the Centre", Jayalalithaa said.