Alliance on Rocks as PMK Vows to Fight 3 DMDK Seats

Rocking the BJP’s fragile rainbow alliance with regional outfits even before it could take a formal shape, PMK leader

Rocking the BJP’s fragile rainbow alliance with regional outfits even before it could take a formal shape, PMK leader

S Ramadoss on Sunday evening declared that his party will go ahead with plans to contest in Salem, Kallakurichi and Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha constituencies, which have been allotted to the DMDK.

At a public meeting organised here to introduce the party’s Dharmapuri candidate, his son and former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, he shocked everyone by announcing that Arul, who was announced as the PMK’s candidate in Salem long before the party explored an electoral pact with the BJP, would not be disturbed.

The Salem seat, considered a stronghold of the PMK, had been allotted to the DMDK led by actor Vijayakant, causing heartburn among party cadre.

“You need not fear. You will be our candidate for Salem,” Ramadoss told Arul who was present at the meeting. He went on to add that the PMK will field Attur Shanmugam in Kallakurichi and Ediroli Mani in Tiruvannamalai constituencies.

While Ramadoss did not declare that the honeymoon with the BJP was over even before it could start, his actions proved that his party would chart a different course. Throughout his speech at the election meeting, he made no reference to the BJP or the other allies or even the national political scene.

Curiously, at the grassroots level too there were no signs of any political bonhomie as the party flags of the BJP, DMDK or MDMK were not spotted at the venue. In contrast, BJP flags fluttered at a whirlwind tour of the district conducted by DMDK leader Vijayakant. But there the PMK flags were conspicuously missing.

In all probability, the BJP would have to rework its shaky seat-sharing arithmetic with its other allies, perhaps conceding more seats to the DMDK and MDMK and appropriating some for itself in the coming days.

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