CHENNAI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Monday formally announced its seat-sharing arrangement with key allies for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, allocating a significant number of constituencies to partners in its coalition. However, the Dravidian major's own seat share was not announced.
Hours after Union Minister Piyush Goyal arrived in Chennai for finalising NDA seat-sharing talks, the alliance confirmed its distribution during an ongoing press conference: the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 27 seats, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) 18, and the TTV Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) 11.
Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) will contest in 2 seats and the John Pandian-led Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra kazhagam (TMMK) 2.
It remains to be seen from how many seats the AIADMK will be contesting from.
According to sources, the BJP had sought over 50 constituencies, including Chennai seats like T Nagar, which the AIADMK considers key strongholds. The disagreement had delayed a final deal, with the AIADMK holding firm at around 27 seats, a number initially seen as unacceptable by BJP leaders. Following the stalemate, Edappadi K Palaniswami flew to New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week. The Union Minister also held talks with Dhinakaran and Anbumani in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the ruling DMK is likely to finalise the seats with the CPM, DMDK and other parties in its led Secular Progressive Alliance soon. They already finalised the pact with the Congress providing it 28 seats while the CPI was given five seats.
However, as DT Next had reported last week, the Congress party submitted a list of 39 preferred constituencies, selected by Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar, many of which in the capital city would be tough to meet, as they would upset the constituencies cultivated by the ruling party leaders. This development is further complicating ongoing negotiations.
On the other hand, the Thol Thirumavalavan-led VCK was being offered seven and MDMK four, while smaller allies KMDK, IUML and MMK were allotted 2 seats each. The DMK's talks with the CPM are still ongoing as the Marxist party has expressed disinclination to accept five seats.
The stalemate with the CPM has also delayed the DMK’s negotiations with other alliance partners, including the VCK, DMDK and Kamal Haasan-led MNM, with whom two rounds of discussions has been held so far.
Meanwhile, DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan has said that the party would finalise the seats with allies ahead of the deadline for filing of the nomination papers, which is set to begin from March 30.
Single-phase elections to 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 23, while 30 segments in neighbouring Puducherry go to polls on April 9.
(With inputs from Bureau)
