Actor Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam on Tuesday quit the alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu next month, ANI reported.
The party has cited the non-allocation of expected seats and constituencies as the reason for its exit. “In the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2021, DMDK held talks with AIADMK in three sittings,” said a statement from Vijayakanth, according to The News Minute. “So as the negotiations did not reach a desired conclusion and since all of DMDK district secretaries reached a decision, DMDK has decided to quit AIADMK and DMDK alliance from March 9.”
DMDK Deputy General Secretary B Parthasarathi had said on Monday that the party had agreed to come down from their original demand of 41 seats to 23 seats, The Hindu reported. This is almost 50% down from its original demand.
So far, the AIADMK has allotted 23 seats to the Pattali Makkal Katchi and 20 seats to the BJP. The AIADMK’s main rival in the state, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has allotted 25 seats to ally Congress and six seats to the Communist Party of India.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK had won 37 of the state’s 39 seats. Vijayakanth’s DMDK had failed to win even a single seat.
Elections to the 234-seat Tamil Nadu Assembly and the bye-poll to Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat will be held in a single phase on April 6. The results will be announced on May 2.
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