Tamil Nadu: Left’s alliance with Jaya’s AIADMK in trouble?

Chennai: The CPI and CPI-M will decide on the future of alliance with Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK party for the general elections as there has been no progress in their seat sharing talks, said party leaders on Wednesday.

"The party's executive committee will meet in Chennai tomorrow (Thursday) to decide. You will have to wait for some more time," D.Pandian, state secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI), told IANS.

Speaking to reporters here, G.Ramakrishnan, state secretary of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), said there has been no progress in the seat sharing talks with AIADMK during the past 15 days.

He said there will be a meeting with CPI Thursday to decide on the next course of action.

Jayalalithaa. AFP.

Pandian said AIADMK repeated what it did during the 2011 assembly elections - announcing the names of the party's candidates for 160 seats even when seat sharing talks were in progress with allies that included the Left parties and DMDK.

Furious at AIADMK's unilateral decision, the Left parties and DMDK threatened to walk out forcing the former to withdraw its list and hold negotiations.

This time around Jayalalithaa announced the party's candidates for all the 40 Lok Sabha seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one Puducherry), declaring that the party's candidates would withdraw in favour of allies once the seat sharing deals conclude.

She said talks are on with the Left parties and she is satisfied with the two allies to fight the elections.

Reacting to the development, Ramu Manivannan, head of political science and public administration in Madras University, told IANS: "I don't think Jayalalithaa would let go off the Left parties at this stage as it would give confusing signals for other parties and the voters."

Conversely the AIADMK may be looking at hidden options - aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party post poll- if it wins around 30 seats and settle down for deputy prime minister postion. The hidden option if any, has not been revealed till now, he added.

Agreeing that such strategies would be worked out by political parties during seat sharing talks, he said AIADMK may finally agree to give the left parties two seats each.

"It may leave a bad taste at the end but it is part of the political game," Manivannan said.

IANS