AIADMK and BJP to stitch up pre-poll alliance to take on DMK in TN
A coalition of two alliances, led by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is set to be announced in Tamil Nadu ahead of the general election to fight the combined might of a giant Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led coalition.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s three-hour visit to Chennai on February 14 seemed to cement the formation of the coalition: the AIADMK will allocate up to 15 of the 40 seats across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to the BJP.
Both the parties will then distribute seats to their allies from their share. A list of possible BJP allies indicates that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of 2014 will be in place in Tamil Nadu. The BJP intends to set aside seven seats from its share for the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and India Jananayaka Katchi. These three were also part of the NDA in 2014; the MDMK and the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi had since left the alliance.
Arrangement works well for TMC
The AIADMK will ally with the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), the Puthiya Tamilagam and the N.R. Congress: the latter is expected to be given Puducherry’s lone Lok Sabha seat. N Rangaswamy had met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday, ahead of the latter’s meeting with BJP’s Goyal.
The arrangement works well for a party like the TMC, whose members were once part of the Congress and hence will be uncomfortable being linked to the BJP. “We are not talking to the BJP; we will be part of the AIADMK alliance,” a TMC leader told The Federal.
Ahead of the countermanded April 2014 by-elections to the RK Nagar assembly seat, TMC president GK Vasan had announced support for the candidate of the O Panneerselvam-led faction of the AIADMK. Panneerselvam and his supporters later returned to the AIADMK and is now deputy Chief Minister; the TMC was not part of the AIADMK alliance when elections to the R.K. Nagar constituency were held post-merger.
In between, Puthiya Thamizhagam leader K Krishnasamy seems to have talks with the AIADMK on seat-sharing. Earlier, he was trying to win the cause of upgrading his caste status with the help of the BJP. During his visit to Madurai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave hope by saying that the demands of Devendra Kula Vellalars (DKV) are being worked out. But a recent report from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment says that there have been no requests made for the inclusion of DKVs in the OBC list, either by the state government or the central government. Irked by this, Krishnasamy turned critical against of the BJP.
Announcement expected next week
A formal announcement about the AIADMK and BJP is expected early in the coming week. DMDK’s chief Vijayakanth has returned to Chennai on Saturday from the US, where he was under treatment for two months. His return could have a significant impact on seat-sharing in the AIADMK-BJP alliance.
DMDK functionaries told The Federal that the party had decided against going with a DMK alliance. It was reported that the party will not go into an alliance wherein the PMK is part of. DMDK had been alleging that the PMK worked to get the former defeated in the last elections even as the two were part of the NDA. In 2014, the DMDK was given 14 seats to contest but it did not win even in one seat.
Interestingly, in the last elections it was the PMK that showed no interest to go in an alliance where DMDK was part of, because the former thought it will affect their political growth.
This does not deter the party from entering into an alliance with the BJP, since the latter is keen to include all the prospective parties. However, now the party is in talks with the AIADMK to get three to four seats.
Earlier, there were speculations that the PMK will get at least eight seats in the alliance. In the last Lok Sabha elections, PMK was given 14 seats but won only in one. Due to this, there was reluctance among the BJP top brass to give as many seats. However, PMK functionaries are in talks with the former to get at least four to five seats.
Initially, the AIADMK was reluctant to give ‘two digit’ seats to the BJP. However, after repeated attempts from the latter’s side, the AIADMK was convinced to give out 15 seats. The AIADMK now has to accommodate other parties like the PMK, the DMDK, Krishnasamy’s Puthiya Thamizhagam, and G.K. Vasan’s TMC within these 25 seats. Other small parties like Devanathan’s India Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam and Paari Vendhar’s India Jananaayaka Katchi will share one seat each with the BJP and will contest on the Lotus symbol.
