Talks between the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam broke down on Wednesday with MDMK leader Vaiko not ready to settle for anything less than “21 seats of our choice.” AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa is not willing to part with more than nine seats.
Mr. Vaiko told The Hindu that he had scaled down his original demand for 35 seats, the same number of seats that the MDMK contested in 2006, following several rounds of discussions.
The AIADMK began the talks with an initial offer of six seats on March 8, and then increased it to seven during discussions on March 12.
The next day, on March 13, an additional seat was offered, only for the offer to be withdrawn later. Mr. Vaiko insisted on 25 seats, or alternatively, “23 seats of our choice.”
The AIADMK team of negotiators revived the offer of eight seats, and on Wednesday, upped the offer to nine seats. After Mr. Vaiko told the AIADMK team that his “final request” was that his party be given “21 seats of our choice,” the talks made no further progress.
