Thaindian News

Chennai, March 20 (IANS) Vaiko’s MDMK party Sunday said it was quitting the AIADMK-led alliance and boycotting the coming elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry after being denied the seats it wanted to contest.

Slighted by the AIADMK’s refusal to allocate 21 of the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, Vaiko’s party said it was leaving the company of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa over her “arrogant attitude”.

The decision ends the AIADMK’s five-year alliance with the MDMK, which Vaiko formed in 1993 after breaking away from the DMK.

Jayalalithaa said she regretted Vaiko’s decision and that she would always respect him.

But the MDMK ruled out the formation of a third front or contesting alone. It said it would prefer to boycott the April 13 elections.

According to MDMK, it initially asked for 35 seats to contest. It scaled down the number to 30. But the AIADMK offered only six seats — the number the MDMK won in 2006.

Later, the AIADMK increased its offer to nine seats while MDMK agreed to put up candidates only in 21 places. But the AIADMK was adamant leading to Vaiko’s decision to part ways.

The AIADMK has sealed seat-sharing agreements with 10 parties for 74 seats and announced its candidates for the remaining 160.

A MDMK leader told IANS that the party felt that the AIADMK was in no mood to accommodate Vaiko.

The AIADMK feels that Vaiko — a former DMK stalwart and for long a vocal supporter of Sri Lanka’s vanquished Tamil Tigers — is a spent force, with many of his senior colleagues deserting him.