AIADMK gains headstart to LS poll alliance, clinches deal with

In a first step towards putting up a broad based front to face the coming Parliamentary elections, the ruling AIADMK Tuesday announced a poll alliance with the Pattali Makkal Katchi.

Announcing the tie up in the presence of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said PMK would contest in seven Lok Sabha seats.

It was also decided that the PMK would be allocated a Rajya Sabha seat.

A formal agreement on the poll alliance was signed between the leadership of AIADMK and the PMK at a city hotel.

Under the deal, the PMK would support AIADMK in the bypolls expected to 21 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, Panneerselvam said.

For the AIADMK, the deal with the PMK, which has a significant clout in several northern and western pockets of Tamil Nadu, is seen as a shot in the arm.

The AIADMK is expected to soon formalise a poll deal with the BJP.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the PMK, which was part of the BJP-led rainbow alliance of seven parties, contested from eight Lok Sabha seats and won Dharmapuri constituency.

The BJP, which also contested the same number, won from Kanyakumari.

By clinching the deal, AIADMK has stolen a march over the opposition led front, led by arch rival DMK.

Seat sharing talks in the opposition front, in which Congress is a key partner, have not concluded yet.

DMK's efforts to rope in PMK into the alliance did not fructify.

PMK founder leader S Ramadoss described the coalition as "an alliance for people's welfare, a mega coalition and a victorious alliance."