AIADMK minister says 'anything' can happen with respect to poll alliance

AIADMK Monday asserted it would lead a coalition of parties in Tamil Nadu for the coming Lok Sabha elections and said 'anything can happen in politics,' apparently not ruling out a tie-up with the BJP. This comes even as DMK and Congress have virtually agreed to continue their alliance for the coming general elections.

Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar made it clear that his party would be the senior partner in a tie-up, saying "we will lead the alliance." Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had on Sunday said that AIADMK was holding talks with regional, national and friendly parties and the permutation of the alliance would be made known after a clear picture emerged. Asked if his party would tie up with the BJP since Congress was already in the DMK camp, Jayakumar recalled the party coordinator Panneerselvam's observations in this regard.

"Anything can happen in politics...he (Panneerselvam) gave a veiled indication...only you have to understand," he told reporters here. On why AIADMK began receiving applications from aspirants for all the 39 seats in the State and the lone segment in neighbouring Puducherry Monday if it was set to stitch an alliance led by it, Jayakumar, who is also the Fisheries Minister said it was a usual exercise.

"You are mistaken, we will receive applications for all the constituencies...but after the seats are allocated to allies, all those partymen who wanted such seats will work for the official candidates," he said. The exercise of receiving applications does not mean that the AIADMK will be contesting all the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, he clarified.

While sources in the AIADMK declined to comment on ties with BJP since the top leadership was seized of the matter, those in the saffron party said a tie-up with AIADMK was "pretty much in the making." The sources told PTI that an AIADMK-led coalition could include outfits like the PMK, DMDK, Puthiya Tamizhagam and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi and a Kongu region based outfit. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls PMK, DMDK and IJK were part of the seven-party alliance led by the BJP in Tamil Nadu.

As early as last April, AIADMK mouthpiece "Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma," had said that signs of the BJP and it working together as a "double-barrelled gun" in the political arena were visible. Though the AIADMK had later made light of it, saying such decisions were taken only during polls, the perception that the ruling parties at the State and national level may come together has continued to gather steam.

It may be recalled that on January 14, Panneerselvam, who holds the top party post had said: "anything can happen in politics." Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that his party cherished its old friends, he had said that the BJP had aligned with AIADMK first and later switched to the DMK camp. Chief Minister K Palaniswami had also welcomed the interim Union budget for several of its features, including the doles for farmers.

Meanwhile, BJP National General Secretary N Muralidhar Rao told reporters in Coimbatore that BJP was open to an alliance in Tamil Nadu, as already stated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi had during an interaction with party booth-level workers from five districts in Tamil Nadu through video conferencing last month, said the BJP was open to alliances and cherished its old friends Stating that BJP had worked with different parties in the past, he said "we are engaged with a few parties about the discussion of alliance. Soon we will come out with the breadth and width of the alliance and it will be an inclusive one."

Rao said that the Modi government had provided several measures for the development of Tamil Nadu. These included infrastructure, smart cities and welfare programmes, he said and challenged any party to show whether they had done so much for Tamil Nadu within a short span of five years.

(With inputs from agencies.)