Snubbed by the unilateral announcement of candidates by the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asserted that it would not prolong the alliance talks beyond Friday night.
Following DMDK’s unexpected move earlier on Friday evening, the BJP headquarters here witnessed hectic parleys involving senior BJP leaders and PMK president G.K. Mani.
The leaders looked visibly upset with the day’s developments.
Apart from declaring candidates for the elections in Tamil Nadu, DMDK president Vijayakant failed to mention anything about alliance partners or the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, in his campaign speeches in Tiruvallur, Sriperumbudur and North Chennai constituencies.
Overlap in preferences
Sources said among the five seats for which contestants were declared by the DMDK, two constituencies — Namakkal and Tiruchi — were eyed by the BJP.
The other constituencies for which the DMDK declared candidates are Tiruvallur (Reserved), Chennai (North) and Madurai.
There is also the fear that Mr. Vijayakant, who is set to tour Arani and Arakkonam on Saturday, may declare contestants there as well.
Talks with PMK, MDMK conclude
Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, BJP national general secretary Muralidhar Rao pointed out that in talks held with the DMDK, the PMK and the MDMK, issues over the number of seats allotted to each had been solved.
The identification of seats with the PMK and the MDMK was almost complete. However, in the case of the DMDK, there was an overlap in seat preferences. “As they were involved in starting their campaign, DMDK leaders could not attend the discussions,” he pointed out.
When asked about the unilateral announcement of candidates by the DMDK, he said the issue, along with the fact that Mr. Vijayakant made no mention of allies or Mr. Modi in his speeches, would be discussed by the party’s State Election Committee on Friday night.
“We will complete every thing on Friday night and send our inputs to the national leadership. It will then be left to them to decide,” Mr. Rao added.