The wrangling in the BJP front over seat-sharing continued till late on Tuesday night with the party unable to find an amicable solution to the tussle between the PMK and the DMDK.
A highly-placed source in the BJP told The Hindu that PMK founder S. Ramadoss had decided to keep himself away from the talks and had left it to his son Anbumani Ramadoss to hold deliberations.
The PMK founder, in the first place, is not keen on an alliance with the BJP and the DMDK. If at all there is an alliance, the party should be given nine seats, he had insisted.
“We are still trying to convince him. But he was not willing to scale down his demand and accept the eight seats we are offering,” said a senior BJP leader privy to the talks. He added that an interlocutor had been sent to meet Dr. Ramadoss in person on Tuesday evening.
A DMDK source said the party had forwarded the list of 14 constituencies and candidates to the BJP on Monday. But it was sent back for reconsideration as some seats overlapped with those of the PMK.
The DMDK is keen to contest either from Arakonam or Arni. It is also not ready to make compromise on its claim for a reserved constituency. It wants either Chidambaram or Villupuram. The PMK, however, is unwilling to part with any of these seats.
In the southern region, the DMDK wanted Tenkasi or Tuticorin, which the MDMK had declared as non-negotiable.
“We are being very accommodative. Except for the two seats in the North and one in the South, we are not insisting on seats which others want,” said the DMDK leader, adding that BJP leaders were expected to meet the DMDK high command on Tuesday night.
The BJP leaders said with the central leadership getting ready to announce candidates for the polls by Thursday, the party may be forced to decide between the PMK and the DMDK if the talks do not conclude by Wednesday evening.
The IJK, on the other hand, insists on Kallakurichi constituency, on which both the MDMK and BJP have set their eyes.
