Tamil Nadu: BJP, AIADMK announce alliance for Lok Sabha elections

The BJP and the AIADMK have announced their pre-poll alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswamy, his deputy O Panneerselvam and Union Minister Piyush Goyal here in a joint press meet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. (File Photo: PTI)

CHENNAI: The BJP and the AIADMK have sealed a pre-poll alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswamy, his deputy O Panneerselvam and Union Minister Piyush Goyal here in a joint press meet. “The AIADMK and the BJP will have an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections which will be a mega and winning alliance,” Panneerselvam said. “The BJP will contest on five seats in the Lok Sabha elections and we will be contesting together in Tamil Nadu and also in Puducherry,” he added. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the two parties have agreed to contest elections in the leadership of Palaniswamy and Panneerselvam in the state and in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Centre. “We will support the AIADMK in the by-elections on 21 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu,” he said. All 40 seats in Tamil Nadu (39 seats) and Puducherry will be won by us," Goyal added. Asked about other parties like DMDK, Goyal said the alliance will take place in due course of time. He said he will be meeting DMDK leader Vijayakant. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. In 2014, the AIADMK swept the general elections in Tamil Nadu with 39 seats and the BJP could win only one seat The AIADMK has also clinched a deal with the PMK, offering the Vanniyar-based party seven out of 40 seats, including one in the neighbouring union territory of Puducherry. The PMK would also support the AIADMK in the coming bypolls. In the ruling AIADMK, 18 party MLAs were disqualified for anti-party activities. Recently Sports Minister P Balakrishna Reddy lost his membership of the House after being onvicted by a court in a case of alleged rioting.  Tiruvarur (M Karunanidhi, DMK) and Tiruparankundram (A K Bose, AIADMK) seats fell vacant following the deaths of the sitting MLAs last year.