DMDK gets 41 seats in poll pact with AIADMK

DMDK leader Vijayakant with AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa at her residence in Chennai on Friday.


Vijayakant meets Jayalalithaa at her residence

The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) led by actor Vijayakant will contest 41 seats as part of the AIADMK alliance in the Assembly elections on April 13.

The number of seats allotted to the DMDK was finalised after a meeting between AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa and DMDK president Vijayakant at the former's Poes Garden residence on Friday night.

While Mr. Vijayakant, who was accompanied his party presidium chairman Panruti S. Ramachandran and youth wing secretary L. K. Sudheesh, left without speaking to the media, a brief statement from Ms. Jayalalithaa's residence disclosed the seat-sharing agreement.

“The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam entered into a seat-sharing agreement with the DMDK and the party has been allotted 41 seats,” the statement said.

Mr. Vijayakant, who came to Ms. Jayalalithaa's residence around 9.25 p.m, had a nearly half-an-hour meeting with her.

The Left parties and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the other major parties in the AIADMK front, are likely to be invited for seat-sharing talks in the next few days.

Left leaders said they were told that a pact would be sealed with them on Friday, but it did not materialise as negotiations with DMDK could be completed only in the evening.

This is the first time that the DMDK, set up in 2005 by the veteran Tamil actor, is entering into an electoral alliance. Contesting alone, the party had polled a little over eight per cent in the 2006 Assembly elections and over 10 per cent in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Source: The Hindu