The AIADMK has released a list of 171 candidates for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, taking the total number of declared nominees to 177. The party had earlier released the names of six candidates, including Chief Minister EK Palaniswami.
The AIADMK is contesting the Tamil Nadu Assembly election in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the PattaliMakkalKatchi(PMK). As per the seat-sharing formula, the BJP has got 20 seats to contest. The PMK has got 23 seats after the DMDK of actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth walked out of the alliance.
As of now, 14 seats still remain to be shared in the ruling alliance of Tamil Nadu, which goes to the polls in a single-phase for all 234 seats on April 6.
The AIADMK faces a tough challenge in the assembly election as it is the first Tamil Nadu polls in decades when it does not have the public appeal of late J Jayalalithaa to bank on. Jayalalithaa had led the AIADMK in 2016 to consecutive terms in power — a first in several decades.
The party has seen infighting since the passing away of Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Former party leader TTV Dhinakaran has floated his own outfit and partnered with the AIAMIM of Hyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi for the Tamil Nadu election.
The AIADMK has had trouble in seat-sharing arrangements with its partners. One of the allies, the DMDK left the coalition over seat-sharing for the Tamil Nadu election.
Actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth-led Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) on quitting the AIADMK-BJP alliance said that the decision was taken over non-allocation of expected seats or constituencies for the upcoming state polls.
Ahead of Assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam in Chennai recently.
During a public rally in Vizhuppuram, the Home Minister apologised to the people of the State for not being able to speakin Tamil. “I am sad that I cannot talk to you in Tamil that is one of the oldest and sweetest languages of India, I seek your forgiveness,” said Shah, while addressing a Vijay Sankalp Rally here in the poll-bound Tamil Nadu. Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also said that he regrets not being able to learn the language.
In another rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the opposition over misgovernance as he addressed a rally at the poll-bound Tamil Nadu. He also termed the seat-sharing meetings between DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (DMK) and the Congress party as “corruption hackathons” and said, “Their leaders sit and brainstorm how to loot.”
“Today, the nation is seeing two distinct styles of politics – the opposition’s misgovernance with corruption and NDA’s governance with compassion,” PM Modi said at an event in Coimbatore.
Further targeting the DMK, PM Modi said that DMK has lost the right to be called an all Tamil Nadu party. “Last time they won a full majority on their own in the state was 25 years ago. Both parties have tried to launch and re-launch their respective first families but got no success. There is continuous family drama there,” he added.
