CHENNAI/BENGALURU: The AIADMK which has been maintaining a strained relationship with the BJP in Tamil Nadu has put up a candidate against the BJP in the Pulikesishinagar Assembly constituency in Karnataka.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday announced that D Anbarasan, presidium chairman of the AIADMK in Karnataka, will be contesting in the Pulikeshinagar constituency.
Highly placed sources in the BJP said neither did the AIADMK ask for any seat nor was it discussed by the BJP. “The BJP-AIADMK alliance is only in Tamil Nadu and there is no such alliance in Karnataka,” said a source.
Talking to The New Indian Express in Chennai, a senior AIADMK functionary declined to comment on whether putting up a candidate against the BJP in Karnataka would mean that the alliance is broken. "The party high command will take a final call on such issues. As of now, we are contesting in one constituency in the Karnataka elections.”
The BJP has fielded Murali in the Pulakeshinagar constituency. His name was announced in the first list of party candidates released on April 11. The constituency has a sizeable Tamil-speaking population of around 50%.
Local AIADMK leaders are confident of winning the seat as their candidate Anbarasan had done well in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections. In 2018, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy won with a massive margin as a Congress candidate. Now, he is contesting as an independent candidate from the same constituency.