Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 21 : Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday took a sharp jibe on NDA on its alliance with the AIADMK, calling the latter party a 'puppet'.
"The true leadership of the National Democratic Alliance lies with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The leader put forward for agreement is from the AIADMK. In a puppet show, the puppet is not important; what matters is who holds the strings," he said.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu Congress President K Selvaperunthagai launched a sharp attack on the AIADMK, alleging that the party is being controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speaking to reporters, Selvaperunthagai said, "AIADMK is being ruled by the BJP. Only the BJP decides the future of AIADMK. This is the level AIADMK has gone down to."
Targeting AIADMK-BJP alliance, he added, "It is not an AIADMK alliance; it is a BJP alliance, a Delhi alliance but ours is a Tamil Nadu alliance. The Delhi alliance is trying to snatch away the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu. The Delhi alliance seeks to make people bow their heads, whereas our alliance will make them hold their heads high. No matter how many times he (AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami) goes to Delhi, after the elections, he will become a branch aligned with the BJP," he said.
Meanwhile AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami asserted that discussions on seat-sharing are progressing "smoothly" within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Indicating a critical moment towards the single-phase assembly elections scheduled to be held on April 23, the AIADMK leader said that an official announcement on the seat-sharing between alliance parties will be made in the coming days.
"Discussions on seat-sharing are progressing smoothly among the parties in the NDA led by the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. An official announcement detailing the constituencies allocated to each party will be made within four days," Palaniswami, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Tamil Nadu assembly, told reporters.
The ECI had announced that Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, with counting of votes scheduled for May 4. The current tenure of the 234-member state assembly ends on May 10.
The main electoral contest is expected between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led alliance, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) as allies. Vijay is also set to make his political debut in this election with his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and will look to turn the polls into a triangular contest.