BJP sews up six-party alliance in Tamil Nadu, hopes for 25 seats (Lead)

Chennai, March 20 (IANS) The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hopes to win 25 seats in Tamil Nadu, said BJP president Rajnath Singh here Thursday as he announced the six-party alliance to contest the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

"We expect 25 seats from Tamil Nadu. This is a formidable alliance," Rajnath Singh said, flanked on the dais by DMDK's Vijaykant, MDMK's Vaiko, PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss, IJK's T.R.Pachamuthu and KMDK's Eshwaran.

The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest 8 seats, the DMDK 14, the PMK 8, the MDMK 7, and the IJK and the KMDK one each.

Denying that the alliance was stitched very late when major rivals - the ruling AIADMK and the DMK - has already started their poll campaign, he said his party has already kicked off its campaign in the state and prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will also come there soonA.

On the constituency for L.K. Advani, the BJP president said the party has given a choice to the veteran leader on whether to contest from Gandhinagar or Bhopal.

"There is no confusion within the party on this count," he said.

According to him, the party had received candidature proposals from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for Advani.

On Wednesday, the party decided that the veteran leader would contest from Gandhinagar, but after getting proposals from Madhya Pradesh, the option of selecting his constituency has been given to Advani.

Announcing the six-party alliance earlier, Rajnath Singh said: "It is a historical moment for the country's politics. This is a decisive message for the whole nation."

He asserted that the NDA, when it comes to power at the centre, will maintain the federal nature of the country which was destroyed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during the past 10 years.

The NDA will give top priority to the protection of Tamil Nadu fishermen from Sri Lankan Navy's attacks, while also trying to convince the island nation's government to solve the Tamils problem there, he added.

"India is yearning for a decisive change. And BJP is far ahead of Congress in Tamil Nadu," he said.

According to him, people are fed up with the UPA for its messing up of the country's economy. he also said that the BJP will undo the damage done by the UPA government on the internal and external security front.

The grand alliance was supposed to be announced in the afternoon around 12.30 p.m. However it got delayed and the announcement was postponed as the time was considered inauspicious.

Subsequently, Rajnath Singh announced BJP's alliance with five parties in the evening.

The announcement brings an end to the alliance suspense in Tamil Nadu.

"There was lots of give and take by the alliance parties," a senior BJP leader told IANS.