CHENNAI: The nearly four-hour-long hard bargain between the AIADMK and the BJP on Saturday over sharing of seats in the urban local body elections ran into rough weather with the principal ally, the AIADMK, not conceding to the "high" demands of the saffron party.
Top state-level functionaries of the BJP are of the opinion that they should not give in to pressure from their senior partner as the AIADMK has "weakened over the years".
The BJP leadership is mulling going it alone in the polls as there are strong votaries within the party to contest alone to strengthen the party's base, but they would wait for the party central leadership to take the final call. "Whatever decision is taken, it will be only for the local body polls. It will not affect the NDA alliance in the state," said a BJP leader, preferring anonymity.
A five-member AIADMK delegation led by party coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami held poll talks with a BJP delegation led by state unit president K Annamalai that dropped by the AIADMK headquarters at noon. "The talks went on corporation-wise and district-wise. The BJP wanted more seats in districts like Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Madurai and Chennai. Overall, they wanted 20% seats for the BJP, which is unacceptable for the AIADMK," said an AIADMK source. The BJP demanded mayoral seats in Nagercoil, Coimbatore, Hosur and Tirupur.
The AIADMK leadership was keen on discussing municipalities and town panchayats at the local level and wanted the corporation mayoral seats for itself. Late CM J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK won all the 10 corporations in the last held elections in 2011.
"They (BJP) will seek seats to strengthen their party, but we have to see that the decisions do not harm our party," AIADMK steering committee member and former minister D Jayakumar said.
Emerging from the meeting, Annamalai sought to put up a show of unity before the media and said the AIADMK was a strong opposition and the allies under the leadership of the AIADMK were working constructively, raising the wrongdoings of the DMK before the people and the assembly. "There is no setback in poll talk. There are 12,838 wards in urban local bodies, which have to be discussed for fielding candidates. The BJP is strong in many areas and even contested and won in 2011," he told reporters.
