As the seat-sharing talks between the ruling AIADMK and the two Left parties could not be finalised, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday called upon the voters to support AIADMK candidates in all the Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
Her speech at Sriperumbudur made a clear departure from her first-day campaign at Kancheepuram, where she sought vote for candidates of the AIADMK as well as alliance partners.
“You must strengthen my hands to usher in a change at the Centre. For this you have to vote for the AIADMK candidates in all the constituencies. I am confident that you will do it. Will you do it?,” she asked a large gathering of people while campaigning for AIADMK candidate K.N. Ramachandran at Sriperumbudur.
Reiterating that a change in the economic policy of the Centre was necessary to control the price of essential commodities and to safeguard the interests of common man, she said such a change could be brought about by voting in favour of the AIADMK candidates in all constituencies.
Ms Jayalalithaa said though her government in Tamil Nadu had implemented a lot of welfare schemes for all sections of the society and upheld the rights of the State in the Cauvery water dispute, there were quite a lot of issues yet to be resolved.
One of the important issues, she said, was the continuous attack on Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, causing a great damage to their livelihood. “While my government always takes quick steps to release them, the Sri Lankan Navy is continuously arresting them. The situation can be changed only by a strong government at the Centre,” she said and urged the voters to strengthen her hands.
Asked for reaction, a senior CPI leader told The Hindu that there was no communication from the AIADMK leadership after his party made it clear that it would not settle for a single seat.
The State committee of the CPI(M) met here to assess the situation. "We cannot settle for one seat as we contested in three constituencies in 2009."
Late in the evening, the four-member AIADMK team constituted for holding talks with allies visited the CPI (M) office and had discussions.
The two Left parties were part of the AIADMK alliance even in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and they were allotted three seats each. The CPI contested in Tenkasi, North Chennai and Nagapattinam while the CPI(M) contested in Madurai, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore.
