By IANS,
Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party AIADMK Wednesday inked a seat-sharing agreement with the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), taking to five the number of such deals concluded by the party for the ensuing state assembly polls.
AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa met the AIFB team, led by its national secretary and West Bengal Agriculture Minister Narendranath Dey, at her residence here and signed the poll pact, allotting them one seat.
AIADMK, which has held talks with two communist parties and long-time ally MDMK, has till date reached agreement for eight seats with five parties, allotting two to Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT), three to MNMK and one each to the Republican Party of India (RPI), AIFB and the All India Moovendar Munnani Kazhagam (AIMMK).
While the PT and the RPI have Dalit backing, the MNMK is backed by Muslims and the AIMMK has the support of the Thevar community.
The Naadalum Makkal Katchi, promoted by actor-turned-politician Karthik – a Thevar – has announced support to the AIADMK.
Meanwhile, there is suspense over the AIADMK joining hands with the DMDK, floated by actor-turned-politician Vijayakant.
Contesting 232 seats in 2006, the DMDK won only one seat. However, it got a vote share of 8.3 percent. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the party contesting alone increased its vote share to around 10 percent. The DMDK is demanding around 60 seats from the AIADMK and not less than 40 seats to contest.
However, how many of these seats are anti-DMK and anti-AIADMK is not known.
According to the DMDK party officials, the seat sharing deal with the AIADMK would be clinched March 15.
The 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly has 99 DMK members, 57 from AIADMK, 34 from the Congress and 18 from PMK. The house also has 15 communist legislators and three members from the MDMK.