AIADMK announces 20 candidates in Pondy

By Suresh Nambath

CHENNAI, APRIL 14. Ending all efforts to put up a united secular front in Pondicherry, the AIADMK general secretary, Ms. Jayalalitha, today announced AIADMK candidates for 20 seats in the 30-member territorial assembly.

The Congress, the TMC and the Left parties, allies of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, would now have to form a separate front in the union territory along with the Janata Dal (Secular). Ms. Jayalalitha had earmarked 10 seats for another ally, the PMK, which is seeking to form the next government in Pondicherry.

The Congress, now heading the Government in Pondicherry with the support of the AIADMK, was clearly taken aback by the sudden announcement. ``When the negotiations were continuing to form a united front, we did not expect it,'' the Pondicherry Congress president, Mr.V. Narayanasamy, said.

The Congress high command would be informed of the development and a decision on alliance would be taken tomorrow, he added.

PMK too disappointed

The AIADMK decision to contest 20 seats came as a disappointment for the PMK too. The PMK founder, Dr. S. Ramadoss, wanted more seats in Pondicherry in the event of the Congress and the TMC forming a separate front. In a three-front scenario in the union territory, the PMK was hoping to get at least 13 seats from the AIADMK.

Electoral negotiations in Pondicherry had even threatened to come in the way of the AIADMK forming an alliance with the TMC and the Congress in Tamil Nadu as the pro-LTTE PMK was first accommodated in alliance.

Even when the Congress agreed to an alliance with a PMK-inclusive AIADMK-led front in Tamil Nadu, it had made it clear that it would not be bound by the decision of the AIADMK to help the PMK form the government in Pondicherry. But both the Congress and the PMK had negotiated for an indirect alliance in Pondicherry as they feared that a three-front situation might not favour them.

Now, however, differences over seat-sharing and constituency identification have ended the possibility of the AIADMK and the Congress coming together in the union territory.

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