AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami made an unexpected move on Wednesday by announcing 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, even before finalising the party's alliance partners.
The decision also comes amidst intense talks with several potential alliances for the party. In the AIADMK alliance till now, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said, "DMDK will contest in 5 seats, SDPI in 1 seat and Puthiya Tamilagam in 1 seat, from Tenkasi constituency."
AIADMK Candidates
In a press conference, Edappadi Palaniswami announced AIADMK candidates. According to the list unveiled by the party, AIADMK has nominated former MP J Jayavardhan, son of former MLA Jayakumar and former MLA Dr P Saravanan. Additionally, the list comprises several senior party officials.
Chennai South - Jayavardhan
Chennai North - Royapuram Manohar
Krishnagiri - Jayaprakash
Erode - Atral Ashok Kumar
Chidambaram - Chandrakaasan
Madurai - Saravanan
Theni - VD Narayanasamy
Nagapattinam - Surjith Sankar
Namakkal - Tamil Mani
Salem - Vignesh
Villupuram - Bakkiyaraj
Kanchipuram - Rajasekar
Arakkonam - AL Vijayan
Arani - Gajendran
Ramanathapuram - Jeyaperumal
The party candidates will contest in two-leave symbol.
AIADMK Alliance
Talking to the reporters, the former Chief Minister emphasised that the AIADMK is not reliant on alliances for its electoral success.
The AIADMK chief listed a few parties who continue with the AIADMK alliance including Puthiya Tamizhagam, SDPI, DMDK and Manithaneya Jananaya Katchi.
Earlier, AIADMK severed ties with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. Later, the BJP formed an alliance with PMK in TN. PM Modi campaigned for NDA in the presence of PMK chief Ramadoss on Tuesday.
This is also the first Lok Sabha elections AIADMK is set to face after quitting NDA.