Pondicherry: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, today (Apr 7, 2004) said the question before the country was whether a person belonging to India should be the Prime Minister or whether a person who was "half baked and green horn" should guide the destiny of the nation.

Jayalalithaa, who was in Pondicherry to campaign for the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) nominee Lalitha Kumaramangalam contesting from the lone Lok Sabha seat in the Union Territory, was obviously referring to AICC (All India Congress Committee) president Sonia Gandhi.

Elections 2004-The Drama unfolds...

In an attempt to woo the voters, she said the electorate of the Union Territory would do well to support the BJP nominee so that the country under the dynamic leadership of Vajpayee, could march ahead in the international arena.

Deriding the Congress Government in Pondicherry for having let down the people, Jayalalithaa said militant forces, which had been driven out of her State, had allegedly held a meeting in the Union Territory.

Under the circumstances, she wanted to know whether the ruling Congress party was a nationalist party.

Referring to the Cauvery issue, Jayalalithaa alleged that Chief Minister N Rangasamy had skipped the Cauvery river water authority meeting and had acted in favour of Karnataka in the issue, thereby betraying the interests of farmers in the Union Territory.