PWA gears up for seat allocation

Chennai: People’s Welfare Alliance comprising MDMK, CPI (M), CPI and VCK will begin seat-sharing talks  on Sunday for the May 16 state Assembly polls.

According to PWA sources, leaders of the four parties will be meeting in MDMK headquarters to decide on number of seats and identification of seat to be contested by each party.

The decision comes after PWA’s long wait for a reply from DMDK chief Vijayakanth to its invitation to join the front instead of floating a
new alliance headed by him.

A leader of PWA said that talks are expected to be smooth as there is a very cordial relationship among the constituents. “Except for Cauvery delta districts, in particular, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Cuddalore where Left parties and VCK enjoy a good support base, there is a very little chance of overlapping of seats in other regions,” said sources.

A VCK leader said that his party has prepared a list of seats preferred by it.
“We are planning to contest from seats across the state. Unlike previous elections, when we were restricted only to northern districts. In this elections, we will contest across the state and also wanted to contest from good number of general seats as there are many non dalits in our party,” the leader said, adding that party office-bearers wanted party chief Thol. Thirumavalavan to contest from Kattumannarkoil Assembly seat.

Meanwhile, CPI (M)’s two day state committee began on Friday to finalise its list of preferred seats to hold talks with its alliance partners. “Besides retaining our sitting seats, we wanted to contest from seats where we have voters base. The talks will be completed in a day or two,” said a senior CPI (M) leader.