Jaya takes the lead in municipalities too

CHENNAI: Despite disquite among allies at what they called unilateral announcement of candidates for the local body elections, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Monday showed no signs of taking a pause. Instead, she announced more candidates for elections to municipalities in the State.  There are 150 municipalities in the State and Jayalalithaa has already announced candidates for 124 of them leaving just 26 undecided. Of the 124 nominees, 53 are women.In the evening, the AIADMK chief also announced party nominees for 131 town panchayats. Of them, 40 are women. There are 559 town panchayats in TN.Meanwhile, CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan has written to Jayalalithaa, requesting a proper discussion on seat sharing. On the repeat of events that occurred before the Assembly polls, when the AIADMK unilaterally announced a list of candidates only to change it after consultation with allies, the CPM state committee said the AIADMK move was ‘not by the convention of coalition politics’.“Our allies in the AIADMK have told us that the list of candidates announced by their party is not final and that it will be changed after discussions with allies. We request that the list be withheld and another announced after proper discussions with allies,” read Ramakrishnan’s letter to Jayalalithaa.The CPM also noted that the release of such lists by the AIADMK would only create confusion among allies and disheartening cadre.This is the second instance in recent times when the AIADMK has unilaterally announced a list of candidates even as it held talks with some allies.  The first such list of 160 candidates, announced ahead of the Assembly polls, managed to rally the allies.  While tight time constraints had been a clinching factor then, the move seems to be intended as a message to allies.