Chennai: The BJP will contest five Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming polls, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced. The AIADMK will contest 21 seats; the PMK, which had joined hands with the AIADMK earlier in the day, will contest seven seats. The AIADMK and the BJP will also contest together in Puducherry.
Union railway minister Piyush Goyal was also present in the AIADMK-BJP joint press conference. Goyal said, "We will also support AIADMK in the by-polls on 21 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. We have agreed to contest elections in the leadership of OPS and EPS in state and in leadership of Modiji at the Centre."
Asserting that all the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will be won by the NDA, Goyal said, "I am extremely delighted that today AIADMK and BJP have concluded a very fruitful discussion. We have agreed to contest Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and by-elections to 21 assembly seats in alliance with our friendly partners."
Earlier in the day the AIADMK finalised electoral alliance with PMK that would contest in 7 seats as part of the mega alliance. After the PMK joined the AIADMK for the Lok Sabha polls, DMK chief MK Stalin launched a frontal attack on the former.
Terming the alliance as a "losing" alliance that fared poorly in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Stalin said that the PMK is not concerned about the welfare of the people. "This is an alliance that was defeated by the people in 2009 elections. S Ramadoss is not worried about the country or the welfare of people. Only money matters to him," Stalin said.
In 2014, the AIADMK swept Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, winning as many 37 seats. The BJP and NDA ally PMK won 1 seat apiece. The BJP and the AIADMK were not alliance partners then.
