Peasants and Farmers Party to go alone

Chennai, Apr 2 (UNI) Ditched by the ruling AIADMK, which it had been supporting for the last 17 years, the Tamil Nadu Peasants and Farmers Party (TPFP) tody decided to fight alone in the May eight polls to Tamil Nadu Assembly.

Talking to newsmen after the party's administrative committee meeting here, TNPFP state President Ponkumar announced that the meeting had authorised him to identify the prospective seats the the party would contest in the polls.

He said that the party workers were unhappy as the AIADMK did not allot seats to the TNPFP for the fourth successive polls.

''We have been loyally supporting the AIADMK for the last 17 years. But the AIADMK did not allot seats in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 Assembly polls. In this elections too it did not provide an opportunity for our party to contest the polls'', he charged.

The party workers expressed their anguish over the AIADMK not allotting any seat and wanted to go alone in the polls.

''It (the polls) will also provide us an opportunity to assess the party's vote bank in the State'', he added.

Mr Ponkumar said the party would hold talks with like-minded parties, except the DMK and the AIADMK, to form a front for the polls.

UNI GV VV MSJ BST1700