Jaya arrives with a winner's confidence

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa's re-emergence as an important player after her party's landslide victory in the assembly elections was clear on her first visit to Delhi.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa's re-emergence as an important player after her party's landslide victory in the assembly elections was clear on her first visit to Delhi.

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Slated to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, her list of callers on Monday included her Delhi counterpart Sheila Dixit and BJP general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Both the leaders described their meetings as "courtesy" calls and didn't want any political meanings to be attached to them.

However, a few days before former telecom minister A Raja was eased out for his alleged role in the 2G scam, she had offered her support to the Congress-led coalition if it dumped the DMK. The Congress had then politely turned it down.

But after the defeat in the Tamil Nadu polls and uneasiness with the DMK, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi congratulated her on her victory, which led to speculations that back channels were open between the two parties.

Jayalalithaa, however, indicated that she wanted to take up the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils with the Prime Minister even two years after the war with the separatist Tamil Tigers.