Chennai: The pre-poll alliance between BJP and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu was finally sealed but the official announcement is yet to be made likely to be declared next week.
Shortly after the Union Minister Piyush Goyal arrived in Chennai to hold midnight parleys with chief minister EK Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam the alliance deal was sealed and soon the official announcement shall be made in Chennai in the presence of top BJP leaders including AIADMK leaders, News18 reports.
One of the sources familiar with the alliance discussions: “There were some challenges in making this happen. At least five rounds of talks were held. The deal was sealed after Piyush Goyal came down to Chennai.”
Seat sharing negotiations are still underway as sources say the BJP wants to contest at least 8 seats this time around.
Both parties are “confident” that the PMK will also join the alliance said the anonymous source.
Apart from AIADMK other parties including DMDK, led by Vijayakanth, Tamil Maanila Congress led by GK Vasan, and two other regional parties are also likely to join the alliance.
Prior to Pulwama attack, the ruling party had planned a series of visits by top leaders such as Nitin Gadkari and others to meet with the party cadre, industry groups and social groups but these visits are likely to be rescheduled.
Politically, the BJP-AIADMK alliance means that the larger parties in Tamil Nadu have aligned themselves with the national parties for the parliamentary polls, leaving the others such as TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK and the new outfit by actor Kamal Haasan to independently contest in the upcoming polls.
Actor turned political Hasan had recently indicated that he has no plans on joining alliance with either of the two large Dravidian parties to “avoid the stain of corruption.”