AIADMK on Monday asserted it would lead a coalition of parties in Tamil Nadu for the coming Lok Sabha elections and said ‘anything can happen in politics,’ apparently not ruling out a tie up with the BJP.
This comes even as DMK and Congress have virtually agreed to continue their alliance for the coming general elections.
Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar made it clear that his party would be the senior partner in a tie up, saying “we will lead the alliance.”
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had on Sunday said that AIADMK was holding talks with regional, national and friendly parties and the permutation of the alliance would be made known after a clear picture emerged.
Asked if his party would tie up with the BJP since Congress was already in the DMK camp, Jayakumar recalled the party coordinator Panneerselvam's observations in this regard.
“Anything can happen in politics...He (Panneerselvam) gave a veiled indication...Only you have to understand,” he told reporters here.
On why AIADMK began receiving applications from aspirants for all the 39 seats in the State and the lone segment in neighbouring Puducherry Monday if it was set to stitch an alliance led by it, Jayakumar, who is also the Fisheries Minister said it was an usual exercise. “You are mistaken, we will receive applications for all the constituencies...But after the seats are allocated to allies, all those partymen who wanted such seats will work for the official candidates,” he said.
The exercise of receiving applications does not mean that the AIADMK will be contesting all the 40 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, he clarified. While sources in the AIADMK declined to comment on ties with BJP since the top leadership was seized of the matter, those in the saffron party said a tie-up with AIADMK was “pretty much in the making.”