DMDK-PWF alliance chose Vijayakanth as its CM candidate, Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, Captain Vijayakanth,Tamil Nadu,DMDK-PWF alliance,Vijayakanth,Vijayakanth CM candidate,Tamil Nadu
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- Category: TamilNadu Political News
- Last Updated: Friday, 01 April 2016 12:18
DMDK-PWF alliance chose Vijayakanth as its CM candidate, Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, Captain Vijayakanth,Tamil Nadu,DMDK-PWF alliance,Vijayakanth,Vijayakanth CM candidate,Tamil Nadu
Vijayakanth’s DMDK joined hands with Vaiko-led People’s Welfare Front (PWF) on Wednesday to take on J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK and Karunanidhi’s DMK in the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
The alliance also chose actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth as its chief ministerial candidate.
While DMDK will contest on 124 seats, the PWF - a combination of pro-Tamil Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Vaiko, Vidhuthalai Chirutaigal Katchi, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) - will contest on 110 seats.
The announcement was made by senior leaders of the combine - Vaiko, G Ramakrishnan, Thol Tirumlavalanan, Muttharasan (CPI) and Vijayakanth, who held a signed document for the cameras at the DMDK party headquarters.
“Without going to any other party, I have gone to the people’s party - PWF. Also, my cadres and people at large wanted me to be the king. All the alliance partners have asked me to be the chief ministerial candidate,” Vijayakant told reporters.
“I am bowing to the wishes of the people,” he said.
The agreement to contest the assembly elections together was reached after several rounds of talks between the leaders of the political formations.
The announcement came hours before Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah is set to arrive in Chennai to deliberate on his party’s election strategy.
Multi-cornered contest
The formation of the DMDK-PWF alliance has made the elections more interesting by turning the contest into a multi-cornered one with AIADMK, DMK-Congress, BJP’s NDA and even the PMK in the fray.
The BJP is expected to tie up with PMK, whose leader Anbumani Ramadoss is already projecting himself as the chief ministerial candidate.
The BJP was in talks with Vijayakanth for continuing the alliance that the two parties formed during the 2014 general elections, but Vijayakanth had played hard to get.
The saffron party criticised the development, with senior party leader and Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan saying “it is an anti-people alliance and one that will be of no consequence in the polls.”
“Our state president had announced yesterday (Tuesday) that we will contest all the 234 seats.”
The BJP too maintains it is against the AIADMK and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that it alleges has ruined Tamil Nadu and declared that it would present an alternative, along with other regional parties.
But so far, no regional party has joined the NDA, including its own former allies Pattali Makkal Katchi, leaving the BJP high and dry.