NJP insists on 12 seats

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MARCH 26. The New Justice Party will contest the Assembly election independently if the DMK-led front does not allocate at least 12 seats to it.

The NJP founder-president, Mr. A. C. Shanmugham, told reporters after a meeting of the emergency executive committee today that the party was hopeful of winning at least 10 seats on its own. Thus, there was no point in seeking just six seats from the DMK alliance.

The DMK had initially offered five seats and later raised the number to six. But, the NJP had the strength to win about 19 seats. Even in a polarised political situation, the NJP would bag 10 seats, he said.

The majority view in the party was in favour of going it alone. There was no dissension in the party on this score, he said.

But a split in the NJP appeared likely when the party vice- president, Mr. J. Sudhanandhen, announced that he would be holding talks with the Chief Minister and DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, on the question of joining the DMK-led front. This, he said, was the view of a majority of the office-bearers and partymen of the NJP.

In a statement, he said, the executive committee meeting of the NJP had been rendered meaningless as the party leadership had ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the DMK prior to that.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : DMK may go in for more new faces
Next     : TMC to decide on expulsion 'in a day or two'