GUWAHATI: One day after sealing the deal with Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) announced their alliance on February 19 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
BJP will contest in 5 seats, while AIADMK will contest in 27 seats.
Union Minister, Piyush Goyal said that they will contest the elections under the leadership of Chief Minister, E Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister, O Pannerselvam. He also added that the BJP will support AIADMK in the bye-elections for 21 Assembly seats.
Earlier in the day, AIADMK had announced a poll alliance with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and have allotted 7 seats to them.
This alliance will contest the Tamil Nadu elections under AIADMK’s leadership and the national elections in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the Union Minister.
Tamil Nadu will send 39 MPs to Parliament for this general election, which is considered to be a relatively large contingent when compared to most other states.
The AIADMK is facing a difficult situation in preventing a challenge from the main opposition party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is a part of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
AIADMK, as well as the DMK, were working incessantly for the past two weeks to set up a diverse caste coalition for the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry.