AIADMK allots 27 seats to BJP, 18 to PMK nd 11 to AMMK

CHENNAI: The AIADMK on Monday finalised seat sharing with its key allies, allotting 27 seats to the BJP, 18 to the PMK faction led by its president Anbumani Ramadoss, and 11 to TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK, wrapping up negotiations among major constituents of the opposition front for the assembly polls. The BJP has secured seven seats more than what it got in 2021, emerging as the second-largest ally after the AIADMK, a position held by the PMK in the previous election. In contrast, the PMK had to settle for five fewer seats this time, due to the split in the party. Talks with G K Vasan’s Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) remained inconclusive. The deal was finalised at a meeting held by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, Union minister and BJP’s Tamil Nadu in-charge Piyush Goyal, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss and AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran at AIADMk headquarters in Chennai. “Unlike the DMK-Congress alliance, which saw a prolonged tussle over seat allocation for more than 20 days, we assembled at noon, completed the talks, and signed the agreement within two hours,” Palaniswami said after the meeting. The breakthrough comes days after his visit to Delhi, where he met Union home minister Amit Shah to resolve differences over seat sharing. So far, the AIADMK has allotted 56 of the 234 constituencies. Seat-sharing with smaller allies, including T R Paarivendhar’s IJK, John Pandian’s TMMK, A C Shanmugam’s Puthiya Neethi Katchi, and Poovai Jaganmoorthy’s Puratchi Bharatam is expected to be finalised soon. While IJK is likely to get two seats each, the others may be allotted one seat each. Though the AIADMK has not officially announced the number of seats it will contest, the party is expected to field candidates in around 170 constituencies, more than what the DMK is likely to contest. Piyush Goyal, who played a key role in stitching the alliance, said the seat sharing arrangement was satisfactory. “We are happy with the seat-sharing. People of Tamil Nadu will give a fitting reply by backing our alliance,’’ he said. Dhinakaran also expressed satisfaction, stating that “almost 99%” of the party’s expectations had been met. He said the party would contest on the ‘cooker’ symbol. TMC president G K Vasan was conspicuously absent from the meeting at the AIADMK office. Though he met Goyal earlier in the day at a city hotel, he did not attend the final discussions. “I had a cordial meeting with the BJP leader and am awaiting their response,” Vasan told TOI. AIADMK sources said the party was likely to offer three seats to the TMC, against Vasan’s demand for five. Later in the day, Palaniswami described the AIADMK-led NDA as a “victorious alliance” formed with the sole aim of defeating the DMK-led front and returning to power. “We will register a massive victory and restore the golden era of AIADMK,” he said in a social media post.