Advani ducks query

CHENNAI: BJP leader LK Advani on Saturday said that though AIADMK was not formally a part of NDA, the informal cooperation his party had with AIADMK was total. Stressing on harmonious relationship between the Centre and States, he cautioned that the Central Government cannot override the powers of the State. “There could not be a strong Centre with weak States,” he said.He emphasised the need for good governance and took a dig at his party’s arch rival Congress when he said: “Corruption cannot co-exist with good governance. Likewise democracy cannot co-exist with dynastic succession.”Likening the supremacy the Russian First Secretary of the Communist Party of the erst while USSR wielded over the President of that country, Advani said something similar to that was being witnessed now in India.“The Prime Minister was unhappy when I said he was weak. In the US, the buck is said to stop with the President. Even in our system there is No. 1 and he is the Prime Minister and not the party president.”Advani parried persistant questions on projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party’s PM candidate. “If a younger person in a family does well, it’s natural for the elders to feel proud,” he simply said.