By IANS,
Chennai: Seat-sharing talks between the AIADMK and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for the Tamil Nadu assembly polls ended inconclusively Monday, said a party leader.
Speaking to IANS, G. Ramakrishnan, state secretary of CPI-M, said: “The talks would continue. I cannot say anything more at this stage.”
Queried about timing running out for the April 13 elections, he said: “We will come to you once the agreement is reached.”
Meanwhile, both the Left parties have strongly ruled out their returning to the fold of the ruling DMK with which they parted ways in 2009.
Leaders of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI-M said they were committed to signing seat-sharing deals with the AIADMK for the ensuing assembly elections.
A CPI-M leader told IANS on condition of anonymity: “It is a big ‘no’ to (joining hands with) the DMK front. Such a possibility does not exist.”
A CPI leader added: “Such a possibility does not arise. The DMK was party to the anti-people decisions of the central government.”
Speculation of a possible deal arose after the DMK Saturday dramatically pulled out of the Manmohan Singh government. The DMK has 18 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the central government.
On Sunday night, DMK president and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said the possibilities of other parties joining the DMK front would be known in a day or two.
The leaders of both the parties declined to comment whether they would be getting at least the same number of seats to contest this time around.
In the 2006 assembly elections, as part of the DMK-led front the CPI-M contested in 13 seats and won nine, while the CPI contested in 10 and won six of them.
In 2009, the Left parted ways with the DMK after taking back legislative support to the Manmohan Singh government.
The AIADMK has so far reached agreement for 49 seats with six parties, allotting 41 to DMDK, two to the Puthiya Tamizhagham, three to the MNMK and one each to the Republican Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc and the AIMMK.