Attempts to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu failed on Wednesday with the ruling AIADMK conveying its decision to part ways with the Left.
The AIADMK’s decision was conveyed to CPI(M) leaders late Tuesday night by a team of senior Ministers led by O. Panneerselvam. “We remained happy allies. Let us now leave each other happily,” the team told them.
CPI(M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan said the Left parties could not achieve any progress in seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK. “We had been negotiating for the last 15 days.”
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Leaders of both Left parties had a meeting to assess the situation arising out of the AIADMK’s stand on alliance. They will again meet on Thursday, as the CPI has convened its executive committee meeting to discuss the issue further. “The possibility of continuing the relationship is closed. Now both the CPI and the CPI(M) will together take a political line,” said a senior CPI leader.
On Tuesday, hours before the AIADMK team visited the CPI(M) office, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hinted at the parting of ways during her campaign at Sriperumbudur, near here.
While the two Left parties, which contested three seats each in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, refused to compromise on numbers, the AIADMK never went beyond offering them more than one each.
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Even at the CPI(M) State committee meeting on Tuesday there was unanimous opinion that the party should not scale down its claim. Only on February 2 did Ms. Jayalalithaa formally announce the arrival of a new alliance with the Left parties.