Virtually shutting the door on its long time ally,the MDMK,the AIADMK on Wednesday announced that it will contest 160 seats for the April 13 Assembly polls,with chief Jayalalithaa seeking election from the temple town of Srirangam. Party heavyweights including former chief minister O Panneerselvam (Bodinayakkanur),Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan (R K Nagar) and headquarters secretary K A Senkottaiyan (Gobichettpalayam) found place in the first list released by Jayalalithaa. By naming candidates for 160 seats,Jayalalithaa has effectively ruled out any rapprochement with her sulking ally,the Vaiko-led MDMK,the only party remaining in the front since 2006. Jayalalithaa appeared to have gone in for a safe seat as Srirangam had given her party nominee Kumar a lead of over 10,000 votes in the Lok Sabha polls enabling him to win the Tiruchirappalli seat in 2009. Of the 56 sitting AIADMK MLAs,more than half were denied tickets. The list of candidates is a blend of youth and experience. In the rainbow alliance led by AIADMK,DMDK floated by actor Vijaykant has been allotted 41 seats,MNMK three,Puthiya Tamizhagam two,SMK of actor Sarathkumar two and AIMMK,AIFB,KMIP and RPI one each. CPI-M and CPI were allotted 12 and 10 seats respectively.
