Tamil Nadu Assembly elections 2021: AIADMK seals seat-sharing deal with BJP, saffron party allotted 20 seats

CHENNAI: After hectic parleys, lasting several days, the ruling AIADMK late Friday night revealed that has allocated 20 Assembly constituencies to the BJP for the ensuing elections along with the Kanniyakumari parliamentary constituency.

The agreement was signed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, BJP national general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu CT Ravi and BJP State president L Murugan. 

AIADMK allots 20 seats to BJP and Kanniyakumari lok sabha seat#TamilNaduElections2021 @xpresstn pic.twitter.com/bQzEKM1D6F

— Vinodh Arulappan (@VinodhArulappan) March 5, 2021

The agreement copy was shared with reporters at around at 11.43 pm. Sources said the pact was was signed late just before the end of the Sapthami Thithi at midnight as the next two days are considered inauspicious.  The BJP expected a higher number seats and has been driving a hard bargain from February 28 after after seat-sharing talks commenced in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

Even on Friday, CT Ravi told reporters that the agreement would be completed on Saturday. BJP sources said that along with fixing the number of seats, the identification of constituencies was also underway. The constituencies allotted to the BJP are likely to be announced in a couple of days. Already, PMK leaders had held talks on identification of seats with the AIADMK team on Friday night. 

Earlier in the day, the AIADMK released its first list of six candidates, including Palaniswami and Panneerselvam. Out of the 234 Assembly seats, the AIADMK has allocated 43 seats to the PMK and BJP.

The AIADMK plans to contest in at least in 170 seats. However, the DMDK is standing firm on its demand for at least 25 seats. Sources said the AIADMK has conveyed to the DMDK that 15 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha seat could be allocated to the party. The AIADMK still has to allocate seats for the Tamil Maanila Congress led by GK Vasan and three other smaller parties.