CHENNAI: The venue for the hectic parleys in the NDA shifted to Delhi on Thursday, with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to break the impasse.
AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran is also expected to leave for Delhi to hold talks with the BJP leadership on Friday.
While the details of the discussion remained sketchy at the time of going to press, sources said the talks have remained stuck over the BJP’s demand for a significantly larger share of constituencies.
It is also pushing for smaller allies to contest under its 'Lotus' symbol rather than on their own. According to sources, the BJP is putting pressure on the AIADMK to allocate around 50 Assembly constituencies, including the seats for the smaller partner parties within the bloc.
However, the AIADMK is reportedly unwilling to offer more than 27 to 28 seats to the BJP directly. Including the seats for the smaller allies, the party's offer is understood to be around 35 seats.
The BJP’s bargaining is rooted in its electoral performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where it secured approximately 11.4% of the vote share.
The party also finished as the runner-up in 10 parliamentary constituencies, which works out to more than 70 Assembly segments.
Citing this vote share, the BJP leaders are pushing for a greater number of seats this time. In the previous Assembly election, the BJP contested 20 seats and won four in alliance with the AIADMK.
Now, the party’s ambition is to not only contest more constituencies but also significantly increase its MLA tally.
This marks Palaniswami’s second visit to Delhi within a fortnight. His previous trip was on March 2 –immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public rally in Madurai – during which he had held discussions with Amit Shah.