Tamil Nadu Assembly elections: Seat-sharing talks after poll date is fixed, says BJP

Coimbatore, Nov 23: Seat-sharing talks for the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections would be held after announcing the poll date, state BJP president L Murugan said on Monday.

Replying to a question on reports of the BJP demanding 50 seats from the ruling AIADMK, Murugan said a statement on the continuation of the alliance was just made two days ago. The number of seats to be contested would be decided upon after discussions with all the alliance partners, he said.

Murugan, along with Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the new BJP office here at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. The two leaders were on their way to attend ''Vel Yatra'' in Palani this evening.

With regard to the yatra, Murugan said it would culminate in Tiruchendur on December 5 instead of December 7. BJP national president J P Nadda is expected to participate in the event.

When referred to the remarks by TNCC president K S Alagiri that Congress would also join if the yatra was taken with an idol of Lord Muruga, he said Murugan and ''vel'' cannot be separated; without Muruga there is no vel and without vel there is no Muruga.

However, he hastened to add that the vel is to finish ''asuras'' (demons) and also the anti-Hindu and anti-nationals."