Chennai, March 24 (IANS). Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led NDA alliance has allotted 5 seats to the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar).
This agreement was finalized in the presence of Tamil Nadu BJP in-charge Piyush Goyal, thereby ending the uncertainty regarding seat sharing.
Under the agreement, Tamil Maanila Congress will contest from Ottanachathiram, Erode West, Ranipet, Kiliyur and Kumbakonam seats. The special thing is that the party will contest the elections on BJP’s ‘Lotus’ symbol instead of its traditional ‘Bicycle’ election symbol.
Party President KG Vasan said that this decision has been taken due to difficulties in getting its symbol approved under the rules of the Election Commission.
He said the party would contest all five seats with the ‘Lotus’ symbol as it was not possible to contest the elections on the ‘Cycle’ symbol in the current circumstances.
This seat sharing was decided after some differences among the earlier allies. Tamil Nadu Congress had initially demanded 5 seats, while AIADMK had proposed 3 seats. However, the talks remained positive and eventually the party got all the 5 seats as per its demand.
The AIADMK-led NDA in Tamil Nadu includes several regional parties including the BJP, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).
The process of seat sharing in the alliance is almost complete. BJP has already been given 27 seats and AMMK has been given 18 seats.
Now after the seat sharing, the AIADMK alliance will completely focus on the election campaign and announcement of candidates, which is expected to make the contest in the state more interesting.
–IANS
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