Allies mount pressure on AIADMK for Rajya Sabha seats

Already, the DMDK and the PMK have started pestering the AIADMK asking for MP and Mayor seats, AIADMK sources said. The allies have started putting pressure on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami demanding more seats and with the AIADMK government sitting on a narrow margin, the alliance partners continue to mound pressure. However, the party seniors O Panneerselvam and Palaniswami are keen on nominating only the AIADMK seniors vying for the post.

With the local body polls approaching, the allies are taking advantage to increase their stakes and there is a constant request from the DMDK and the PMK leaders to allot more seats in the upcoming civic polls.

When asked whether the AIADMK will give a Rajya Sabha seat to DMDK leader LK Sudhish, Minister D Jayakumar evaded the query and stated that the party leadership would decide on the matters related to the Rajya Sabha polls.

According to informed sources, the alliance partners are also lining up seeking municipal chairman posts in the northern Tamil Nadu and in the western region, where the PMK and the DMDK have recorded sizable vote share.

“Some of the district secretaries are upset and have planned to brief the party high command insisting that the ruling AIADMK can do well by going it alone in the civic polls,” said an AIADMK MLA.

“There is no option for the DMDK and the PMK at this stage and they have to cling either to the AIADMK or to the DMK,” opined political commentator R Mani. In my views, the AIADMK will not budge to the alliance pressure and will not settle with its three Rajya Sabha nominations. Both the DMK and the AIADMK will nominate only their party candidates for the coveted posts, Mani said.

Ramadoss meets CM

Meanwhile, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss called on the Chief Minister at his residence to thank the AIADMK leader for passing the special protected agriculture zone act.

“The meeting with the CM was cordial and current issues like the NRC and the recently passed Special Protected Agriculture Zone Act were discussed. On behalf of the PMK, we thanked the CM for passing the Act under which the agriculture sector in the delta will be protected,” Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters.

Commenting on the resolutions passed by the Bihar state government stating that the state government would not support the NRC process, Ramadoss said that the PMK has pressed for a similar resolution under which NRC would be stalled.