BJP to go it alone in TN local body polls after seat-sharing talks with AIADMK fail

TN BJP President K Annamalai added that this will not affect the alliance between the parties at the national level.
K Annamalai
K Annamalai
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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, January 31, announced that the party will be contesting the upcoming civic body elections in the state alone, and not as an alliance with the AIADMK. BJP’s Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai made the announcement after a stalemate during seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK.

“The BJP is a fast-growing party, and the local body polls are also given central importance. There are many in the party who wish to contest the polls. The decision to listen to our cadres is an important one for state BJP leaders. It is a justifiable demand that a specific number of our cadre can contest, that we want to try and strengthen the party. At the same time, a large party like the AIADMK has many problems. Because of this, we have made an extremely important decision. In the upcoming local body polls, BJP will contest the elections alone,” Annamalai said. He added that this will not affect the alliance between the parties will continue at the national level.

A few days ago, leaders from the AIADMK and BJP had concluded preliminary talks on seat-sharing for the February 19 urban civic bodies polls in the state to fill 12,838 posts. The two parties met for nearly four-and-a-half hours to decide seat-sharing. At the time, AIADMK senior and former state minister D Jayakumar had denied any stalemate over the choice of wards or numbers.

“The protracted meeting was because being a civic poll, contenders are dime a dozen. We have to discuss fielding candidates for all the posts for which election will be held,” K Annamalai had said then. “There is no setback for us or any stalemate in parleys, as we didn't approach AIADMK with a long wish-list or high expectations, Annamalai later told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission has warned the representatives of rural local bodies of stringent action, if they contested the urban civic bodies elections without relinquishing their posts. They would stand to be disqualified if they filed their nominations without resigning, State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar said.

With PTI inputs

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