Lok Sabha polls | AIADMK ropes in DMDK, Puthiya Tamizhagam, SDPI; releases first list of candidates

AIADMK announces alliance with multiple parties for Lok Sabha elections, confident in own strength and people's support.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 announced that it had, under its fold, roped in many parties such as the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Puthiya Tamizhagam, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Puratchi Bharatham and the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Disclosing this while releasing the first list of candidates, Mr Palaniswami told reporters that many other smaller orgnaisations had also expressed their support for his party. 

A party press release stated that Tenkasi, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Dindigul had been allotted to the Puthiya Tamizhagam and the SDPI respectively. Though the number of seats allotted to the DMDK was not yet made known officially, television media reports indicate that five seats have been given. 

Asked whether the PMK-BJP alliance had caused disappointment, especially as PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the help of the AIADMK a few years ago, Mr. Palaniswami replied in the negative. “The AIADMK is an organisation that stands on its own feet. If others come to us for an alliance, we are happy. If they do not come, we are still happy.”

When asked about most of the candidates in the first list being new faces, the AIADMK leader acknowledged this and emphasised that they were well qualified. In the event of their election, they would raise people’s issues “effectively” in the Lok Sabha, he added. 

Parrying a question on the electoral prospects of the BJP-led alliance, he replied that his party, which was more than 50 years old, had been in power in the State for about 30 years.  In 2014, by going it alone, it recorded a “historic victory” by bagging 37 seats. “It is up to the people to decide during elections,” Mr Palaniswami observed. 

To another question as to whether his party had been left alone in the fray, the former Chief Minister responded saying: “We are confident of our own strength. We believe in the people’s support. We are not running the party on the basis of what social media says. Our alliance is with the people.”