The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 27 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) will contest 18, while the T. T. V. Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) will fight for 11.
It was not immediately revealed how many seats will go to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the principal opposition party in the state, which leads the alliance.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami, Dhinakaran and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, in the national capital last week.
BJP Tamil Nadu in-charge and Union Minister Piyush Goyal arrived in Chennai to finalise seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK. It was during a press conference by the BJP leader that the suspense over the seat allotment was finally broken. It was earlier reported that the saffron party had demanded 50 seats and the AIADMK's reluctance to hand over some of its strongholds to its ally was the reason for the talks remaining unresolved.
"As I have already said I don't work for the deadline. I work for quality. I am quite confident that given the family relations that we have, the whole NDA will work as a family led by AIADMK's Edappadi K Palaniswami, (AMMK leader) TTV Dhinakaran, Anbumani (PMK), my party (TN) president Nainar Nagenthran and Union Minister L Murugan. We will sit and decide today (March 23)," Goyal had earlier told reporters.
"We will launch the fight against the evil force DMK and its partners who have taken Tamil Nadu to extreme difficult times due to their incompetent management of economy and due to actions which hurt Tamil culture. People are fed up with the DMK and Congress," he reportedly said during another interaction.
Single-phase elections to 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on 23 April, while 30 segments in neighbouring Puducherry go to the polls on 9 April.
