By IANS,
Chennai: After sewing up seat-sharing deals with six smaller parties for 49 seats, Tamil Nadu’s main opposition AIADMK party is expected to reach a pact with the two Left parties Sunday.
The AIADMK entered the much-expected alliance with the DMDK, led by actor-turned-politician Vijayakant, Friday night.
“We expect the seat sharing to be completed by Sunday,” a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader told IANS Saturday.
However, leaders of the CPI-M and the Communist Party of India (CPI) declined to say how many of the 234 seats they want to contest.
In 2006, the CPI-M contested in 13 seats and won nine while the CPI put up candidates in 10 and won six seats. Both were then allied with the DMK.
The AIADMK is also expected to sign an electoral pact with long-time ally MDMK. The MDMK contested 36 seats in 2006 and won six. However, the party has been plagued by desertions.
The AIADMK has so far reached agreements for 49 seats with six parties, allotting 41 to DMDK, two to Puthiya Tamizhagham, three to MNMK and one each to the Republican Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and AIMMK.
Meanwhile, the fissures between the ruling DMK and the Congress have made the opposition camp happy.
DMK leader and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has declared the party will decide whether or not to ally with the Congress, which wants to contest in 63 constituencies.
A CPI-M leader told IANS: “They have lost the battle even before it began.”
The Tamil Nadu assembly election will be held April 13.