The decision to fight against the DMK in four wards in the Keelakarai Municipality poll has become the talking point in the coastal district.
When the IUML has been an ally of the DMK, fighting against the senior partner for a councillor post from four wards in Keelakarai is baffling, political opponents have said.
The IUML functionaries said that they had requested the DMK to give them four wards, but there was no word. So, they had fielded their own candidates, they added.
The DMK said that they had already given an assurance to the party functionaries from Keelakarai and could not share the seats with their allies.
According to officials, 132 candidates had filed nominations for 21 wards. While 12 among them were rejected, 10 persons withdrew their papers leaving 110 in the fray.
The IUML and the DMK will be fighting in ward numbers 14, 17, 18 and 20. The IUML is being given ladder symbol.
The IUML functionaries said that when the DMK had not fielded candidates in Kamudhi Town Panchayat for ward election, which belonged to the party district secretary Muthuramalingam alias Kadar Basha, they may have given the four wards in Keelakarai to the IUML out of the 21 wards, he argued.
