BJP-AIADMK meet to discuss seat-sharing for Tamil Nadu polls ahead of HM Amit Shah's visit

As the race to the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections heats up, NDA allies BJP and AIADMK met on Saturday to discuss the seat-sharing ahead of Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the state on Sunday. BJP leaders, including MoS G Kishan Reddy and state president L Murugan met TN CM Edappadi Palaniswami and Dy CM O Panneerselvam at their respective residences on Saturday to discuss the seat-sharing for the first phase of the Assembly polls. The NDA allies' meeting over seat-sharing comes after the Election Commission revealed the dates of Assembly elections scheduled to be held in April and May in five states - Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam. 

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As per reports, the BJP leaders along with CM EPS and Dy CM OPS are expected to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday to finalize the seat-sharing talks. Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address a public meeting at Villupuram following which he will be meeting the party's karyakartas before departing to Delhi. As per sources, the AIADMK has offered BJP 20-23 seats while the saffron party had initially demanded 40 seats. 

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Meanwhile, the DMK formed a seven-member committee to discuss seat-sharing talks with Congress and other allies. Party General Secretary Duraimurugan said the panel would be headed by Treasurer T.R. Baalu. K.N. Nehru, I. Periyasamy, K. Ponmudi, Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, Organising Secretary R.S. Bharathi and E.V. Velu would be part of the team, he added. Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Oomen Chandy, and Dinesh Gundu Rao met DMK representatives on Friday to negotiate seat-sharing talks and as per reports, Congress raised a demand for 54 seats as opposed to 41 that it contested from in the previous election.

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Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021

The two warring factions in AIADMK - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswamy (EPS), reconciled after the party named incumbent E Palaniswamy as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. With AIADMK announcing it will continue its national alliance with BJP, the saffron party is yet to officially announce its state-level alliance. Meanwhile, ex-CM Karunanidhi's successor - DMK chief MK Stalin eyes his maiden CM term as DMK cannot afford to lose a third straight Assembly election after sweeping the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with 38 seats. Kamal Haasan's MNM has initiated alliance talks with Arvind Kejriwal's AAP while AIMIM's Owaisi has also expressed interest to fight polls in the southern state. Erstwhile AIADMK ally Samathuva Makkal Katchi, headed by actor R Sarathkumar, joined hands with joins hands with SRM Group Paarivendhar's Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi to fight the upcoming polls.

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