New Delhi: The BJP has released its third list of candidates, which contains nine names for Tamil Nadu, a state where it is yet to gain a foothold. The announcement comes on the heels of a seat sharing deal with a handful of smaller parties.
The BJP, which will contest 20 of the state's 39 seats, has fielded former Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South, state party chief K Annamalai from Coimbatore, Union Minister L Murugun from Nilgiri. Former Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan will contest from Kanniyakumari. Vinoj P Selvam will contest from Chennai Central, A C Shanmugam from Vellore, C Narasimhan from Krishnagiri, and Nainar Nagendran from Thoothukkudi, the party said.
The seat sharing deal announced earlier today, lists 20 seats for the BJP, 10 for PMK, 3 for TMC, 2 for AMMK, one each for IJK, NJP and two other smaller parties.
The equation evolved after the talks with former ally AIADMK fell through. Failing to make any headway in the state, the northern ally was considered a liability by most leaders in the state. What didn't help were a series of fighting words from the state BJP chief.
Over the last weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned in AIADMK strongholds, making it clear that the two parties were ready to go their separate ways.
On Wednesday, the AIADMK had released its first list of 16 candidates.
Of the BJP's new alliances, the most significant is the one with PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi), which allows the party a foot in the northern part of the state, where it has a marginal presence.
Polling in the state's 39 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the first phase on April 19. The BJP did not win a single seat from Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.