Pact with Vijaykanth major gain for Jaya

Hindustan Times
Chennai, February 25, 2011

AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa secured a major gain on her birthday on Thursday by sewing up an alliance with actor Vijaykant-led DMDK, posing a counter to the DMK-PMK-Congress combination in the assembly elections. The AIADMK and DMDK held their first official seat-sharing talks on Thursd
ay night and reached an informal understanding on an alliance.

Coming out of AIADMK headquarters, DMDK presidium chairman Panruti S Ramachandran said his party had taken a political stand to oust the ruling DMK from power. “Therefore, we are with the AIADMK. As far as the seats are concerned, we are yet to arrive at a conclusion,” he said.

Asked about the DMDK’s demand for 50 seats (of the 234 in the assembly) and a Rajya Sabha berth, he dismissed all such talk as speculation. “We have not made any demands or talked numbers.”

A formal announcement is expected on Sunday.

For some time, Jayalalithaa was on tenterhooks as to whether Vijaykant would throw in his lot with her.

In the 2006 assembly polls, Vijaykant’s party walked away with 8.34% votes, which could swing the electoral fortunes for any alliance, though the DMDK could win just one seat.

The DMK-led alliance had polled 44.65% of the votes and the AIADMK-MDMK combination 40.52%.

In the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, Vijaykant increased his vote percentage to 10.5, evenly spread across the state, but could not win a seat.

To date the AIADMK has signed formal agreements with five parties, allotting two seats to the Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT), three to the MNMK, and one each to the Republican Party of India, AIAFB, and AIMMK.