Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai on September 30 exuded confidence that the much anticipated All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facility announced by the Centre would be set up in Tamil Nadu.

"Definitely.. the AIIMS will be set up in the State, which is already an announced project. I am confident that the work will commence soon," Thambidurai told reporters. He was responding to a query on the RTI information received by a Madurai-based activist with respect to the approval for the institute. On the alliance for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the senior AIADMK leader said he was of the same opinion expressed by Tamil Nadu chief minister and deputy chief minister that the party would go it alone.

He asserted that the party was strong enough to contest all the 40 seats in the state. When asked about forging an alliance with BJP, Thambidurai said Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan was the right person to answer the query. However, there was no place for any national party other than Dravidian parties in the state, he said. The Tamil Nadu government had in June last said AIIMS would come up near Madurai at an estimated Rs 1,500 crore. Palaniswami had recalled that a central team had earlier visited five locations, including those at Madurai, Erode and Pudukottai districts, before zeroing in on Thoppur.