AIADMK, CPI-M ink poll pact

After a fortnight’s hard bargaining, AIADMK and CPI-M on Monday inked a poll pact under which the latter would contest Madurai, Kaniyakumari and Coimbatore seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

After a fortnight’s hard bargaining, AIADMK and CPI-M on Monday inked a poll pact under which the latter would contest Madurai, Kaniyakumari and Coimbatore seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

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AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa and CPI-M state secretary N Varadarajan signed the pact on Monday, when Varadarajan called on her at her residence this afternoon.The seat-sharing talks between the two were earlier deadlocked with the CPI-M insisting on either Coimbatore or adjoining Tiruppur besides Madurai and Kaniyakumari won by it in 2004.

With today’s pact, MDMK led by Vaiko is the only other party yet to reach a poll understanding with AIADMK. AIADMK sources said a deal with MDMK, which had been demanding five seats, would be made either on Monday or on Tuesday.