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The alliance row in Tamil Nadu continued to be deadlocked Wednesday, with Tamil Maanila Congress founder G K Moopanar holding talks with senior party colleagues, and also prospective partners for a possible Third Front in the state.
Among the callers on Moopanar was the New Justice Party president A C Shanmugam, the proponent of the Third Front in Tamil Nadu. He expressed the hope that the TMC would lead the front, adding that Moopanar had promised to meet him again during the day.
Indications are that the Congress high command has left it to Moopanar to decide. But it has made it clear that it would not like to be party to any alliance in which the Pattali Makkal Katchi has a decisive role.
According to informed sources, Moopanar is now making a bid to save the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance, by proposing various alternatives for accommodating Congress concerns.
The TMC leadership is also said to be angling for more seats from the AIADMK, if only to satisfy elements opposed to the alliance in the party, who see the party's current pro-Jayalalitha stance as a 'near-sellout'. While the TMC is said to be still insisting on 60 seats for both the TMC and the Congress, the AIADMK, it is felt, may not be disinclined to go up to 50 seats, from Jayalalitha's publicised offer of 45 seats.
Simultaneously, the TMC-Congress combine would require at least 15 seats in Pondicherry, where the AIADMK has only a total of 20 seats on offer, after allotting ten seats to the PMK. Here again, the AIADMK may be under additional pressure, given its need to find seats for the two communist parties.
Leaders of the two communist parties in Tamil Nadu also reviewed their strategy at separate meetings in Madras. While the CPI continued to insist on 15 seats, the CPI-M would not budge from its demand for 25.
However, the state units of the two communist parties are said to be awaiting directions from their national leadership.
Meanwhile, the DMK-led alliance relaunched motions of seat-sharing talks. The three-member MDMK team called on the DMK team led by party treasurer and Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy. Indications are that the DMK alliance is also eagerly looking at the developments in the AIADMK alliance.
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