Jayalalithaa receives a shawl from Vajpayee at the election rally in Chennai on Wednesday. (AFP)

Chennai, May 5: Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejoined his “beloved sister” on the campaign trail after six years with Tamil rolling off his tongue and a national appeal on his lips.

In an indirect acknowledgement of the anti-incumbency mood in the state, the Prime Minister appealed to the electorate to ignore the local issues being raised by the Opposition.

“The people of Tamil Nadu should use their great heart and intelligence in judging the performance of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for the last six years from a national perspective and rise above these local concerns and issues,” he said.

Pre-poll projections had put the Congress-DMK alliance on a stronger wicket than the ADMK-BJP combine.

Vajpayee also played the stability card. “We do not want a simple majority but a decisive majority, in fact a two-thirds majority,” the Prime Minister told an election meeting here with Jayalalithaa by his side a few hours after the third phase of polling ended and the last lap of electioneering got off the ground.

With exit poll projections of a thin edge playing on his mind, the Prime Minister said Tamil Nadu, which accounts for 39 seats, must decide in which way the country and the state should go. “You have to make your choice in a decisive way,” he iterated.

“You need to make a choice. Will we continue to prosper with greater speed or will India return to the days of instability?” Vajpayee asked the huge rally on the Island grounds here during a speech in English, translated into Tamil by state BJP leader Ela Ganesan.

Vajpayee laced his speech with Tamil, too, referring to his friend-turned-foe-turned-friend Jayalalithaa as his “anbu sagothiri” (beloved sister) and won a round of applause when he reassured the audience that “I share her dream” of making Tamil Nadu the most developed state in the country.

Wrapped in a green sari, Jayalalithaa was all smiles, betraying no trace of the bitterness that marked her relationship with the BJP after she pulled out in 1999. Today’s was the first joint campaign by Vajpayee and Jayalalithaa since 1998, though they had shared a dais for a government function at Kanyakumari recently.

In a state where fiery dialogues usually find a loyal fan following, Vajpayee did not limit the use of his language skills to display brotherly affection.

“Naam inaivom, nathigalai inaippom (we will unite as a people and also unite all the rivers),” the Prime Minister thundered, referring to the acute water scarcity in the state and an ambitious plan to inter-link rivers.

Vajpayee sought to pin the water problem blame on the Congress, wondering why the party did not take up the river inter-linking project though it had been mooted far back in the sixties. Superstar Rajnikanth later met Vajpayee to press the demand for linking the rivers.

“Give maximum seats to the AIADMK-BJP and, in return, I assure you that I will take care of the interests of Tamil Nadu,” Vajpayee told the voters.

Vajpayee also took on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “She says that I am unreliable as I say one thing today and another thing tomorrow. But these are white lies born out of frustration.”

The Prime Minister said he was not a “weather cock to change my views according to the direction of the wind. I am in politics for the past 40 years because of my commitment to basic values of democracy and nationalism. I had been in the Opposition for most part of my public life. I am not after power”.

The Congress owed an explanation to the people on why it had aligned with the DMK after accusing it of having had links with the LTTE and toppling the Gujral government on that issue, he said.

Vajpayee said the DMK also owed an explanation on why it had joined hands with the Congress.

Jayalalithaa, too, stuck to the national theme, saying the central issue in this election was “who should become Prime Minister”. A great country of 100 crore people should be led only by an able, experienced and principled Prime Minister like Vajpayee and not a “foreign woman”.