TN BJP to demand 30% seats from AIADMK for local body polls

Chennai, Jan 29 (IANS) With Tamil Nadu going for urban local body elections on February 19, the state BJP unit will demand 30 per cent of the total seats from the AIADMK.

The seat-sharing between the parties will begin on Sunday.

The BJP had demanded 30 per cent seats in the rural local body elections to the nine districts held in October 2021 but it did not get the requested percentage of seats and its performance in the local body polls was below par as well.

However, sources in the BJP told IANS that the party will demand more seats citing the presence of four MLAs it has in the Assembly and is likely to demand five corporation Mayor posts.

Sources in the AIADMK dismissed the claims and a senior party leader told IANS that the party will part with a maximum of 10 per cent of the seats to the saffron party and nothing more.

Meanwhile, Pon Radhakrishnan, state BJP election in-charge and former Union minister said that the party would be announcing its candidates after January 31 and will file nominations by the next couple of days.

He said that the saffron party is conducting interviews of the candidates and that the state party President K. Annamalai would announce the name of the party candidates.

In a party meeting held at the state headquarters in Chennai on Friday evening, there were, however, divergent opinions on whether the BJP will fight it alone in the urban local body polls.

A senior BJP leader requesting anonymity, told IANS: "The BJP is a party with a pan- India presence and we should try and experiment fighting the elections on our own. Anyways, the ruling DMK alliance will win a majority of seats, given the fact that it is in power in the state and the BJP has a golden opportunity to understand its strength at the grassroots level which can be used as a barometer for further seat-sharing talks. However, a major section of the party wants to continue the alliance with the AIADMK as the comfort zone is there."

In certain pockets of the state, the BJP has more than 10 per cent of the vote share while in almost all constituencies of the state except a few, the saffron party has more than 4 per cent of the total vote share.