Dhinakaran’s AMMK to contest Lok Sabha polls in alliance with BJP in Tamil Nadu

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) of TTV Dhinakaran, who was expelled from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in 2017 along with his aunt and former chief J Jayalalithaa’s aide V K Sasikala, will contest the 2024 national polls due this summer in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu.

“We have sealed an alliance with the BJP,” Dhinakaran announced on Monday. He added the AMMK offered “unconditional support” to the BJP to ensure that Tamil Nadu does its bit in re-electing Narendra Modi as the prime minister for a third consecutive term.

He said they have been in talks with the BJP for six months and have not made any specific demand for the number of seats. “I only said that if the BJP continues to bring in schemes that go against the people of Tamil Nadu, I can never ally with them,” he said. “Whether it is the Sterlite plant [in Thoothukudi] or the methane and hydrocarbon projects that Tamil Nadu’s farmers are opposed to, the BJP does not force such schemes anymore.”

He said Modi has said he would bring good schemes to Tamil Nadu. “The BJP will form the government again. Everybody knows that Narendra Modi will be the Prime Minister again.”

In the 2019 national polls, AMMK managed to get 5% of votes and its candidates polled over 100000 votes in at least five Lok Sabha segments. The vote share plunged to 2.5% in the 2021 assembly elections in which the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) swept back to power, defeating the AIADMK-BJP combine.

The AIADMK, which quit the BJP-led alliance in September, has not announced any candidates for the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry.

The ruling DMK, which swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls winning 38 seats, will contest 21 seats. Its principal ally Congress has been allotted nine seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry.