TN polls: AAP to join DMK alliance, will talk to Stalin for seats

Tamil Nadu AAP Convenor S A N Vaseegaran said the party plans to contest the upcoming Assembly elections and will seek seats from the DMK. He stressed the need for a strong alliance with DMK to stop the BJP in the state.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, Tamil Nadu Unit AAP Convenor S A N Vaseegaran said that the party is planning to contest this election, and AAP leaders will definitely talk to MK Stalin to get seats. "We came to the DMK HQ for discussions for the forthcoming assembly elections. We had a talk with the coordination committee from the DMK. We are planning to contest this election. So we have requested a few seats. In Tamil Nadu, we have to eradicate, we have to stop this BJP. So we need a strong alliance. As last time, in the parliament election, there was a very big alliance at the national level, even AAP party was in it, and our leader, Arvind Kejriwal, also supported it... We plan to travel with the DMK alliance. Our leader will definitely talk to MK Stalin and will definitely get sizable seats, and AAP will be a very big opening in the South," Vaseegaran said after the meeting in Chennai on Wednesday.

Alliance Seat-Sharing Friction

The tussle to finalise the seat-sharing for the alliance emerged when the DMK offered Congress 25 seats, while the party was expecting to get to contest on more. On March 1, All India Congress Committee (AICC) In-Charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar told ANI, "They offered us 25 seats, but that is not acceptable to us. Whatever we want, we have given to them."

Electoral Context

Notably, the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will go to the polls in the first half of 2026, where the MK Stalin-led alliance will look to project the 'Dravidian Model 2.0' for the win against the BJP-AIADMK alliance.

In the 2021 polls, the DMK won 133 seats. Congress won 18, PMK won five, VCK won four, and others won eight seats. The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by DMK, which consisted of Congress, won 159 seats collectively. While the NDA won 75 seats, the AIADMK emerged as the largest party in the alliance with 66 seats. (ANI)

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