BJP prez cancels TN trip as allies sing different tune

 After several attempts to sort out seat allocations with allies in Tamil Nadu made little progress, BJP president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday cancelled his visit to the state.

Rajnath was expected to be here in Chennai to sort out issues especially between Ramadoss-led Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and actor Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), whose choice of constituencies clashing with each other.
Though talks were initiated with the PMK back in December 2013, the BJP leadership in Tamil Nadu is still groping in the dark as the father-son duo of Ramadoss and Anbumani Ramadoss hardened their stance over the number of seats and the constituencies allocated to them.

Among the constituencies from where the DMDK intends to field its candidates were Arani, Salem and Arakonam. The PMK, arguing that it had already named candidates for these seats last year itself, does not want to negotiate further on these constituencies. Krishanagiri is another constituency sought by PMK, BJP and the DMDK.

Likewise, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), an ally of BJP, wants to field its chief Vaiko from Virudhunagar and has decided to re-nominate its sitting Lok Sabha MP A Ganesamoorthy from Erode.

Although Theni, Madurai and Thanjavur are among the MDMK’s ‘wishlist of seats’, the party has indicated that it was open for negotiation.

Adding woes to the tie-up of the BJP allies, PMK suddenly, which stuck to eight seats, is now demanding additional four. However, a senior BJP leader said,  “We hope to allocate nine seats to the PMK and an equal number of seats for ourselves.

The MDMK may be allocated five seats while the three small outfits would get one seat each”. c“It was a challenging situation as the interests of all the parties had to be protected,” he said adding, “once the seat sharing is over Rajanath Singh will come to Chennai to give finishing touches to the electoral tie-up”.