In yet another political chaos with the ADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, the state is witnessing strong signals that the ADMK- BJP alliance will break up ahead of the upcoming urban local body polls. Both the parties are heading towards divorce as the sources say the leadership units are yet to find a consensus over seat-sharing in the local body polls and the end of talks is not in sight even as the clock is ticking to the deadline for filing nominations. 

The polls have become crucial for casting a real test for the ruling DMK to reap a good quantity of support and seats under MK Stalin's leadership while the other parties are working to retain their base after facing a debacle in the 2021 assembly polls and the rural local body polls. The urban local body polls will be held on February 19 and the political parties are busy finalizing the talks and candidates. Last week, the ADMK leadership and its counterpart of Tamil Nadu BJP had held talks to lock the numbers of seats.

However, the talks didn't end peacefully on Sunday, the ADMK leadership had released the first batch of its candidates to contest in the urban local body polls. The first list has had the candidates for the districts of Cuddalore, Villupuram, and Dharmapuri districts. The release of the candidates amid the talks had shocked the BJP and the saffron party, which has been boasting itself as it has a strong base in the state, is in the mind of contesting independently. 

Our sources say that the Tamil Nadu BJP has sent the details of talks and its demand of seats to the Central leadership of BJP in which the party has said that it has demanded 30% to 35% of seats from several municipal corporations including Trichy, Coimbatore, Hosur, and Tirunelveli from the ADMK. Moreover, the BJP has asked the ADMK to allocate 20% of seats from the rest of the districts to the party. However, the ADMK has planned to allocate only 10% of seats to the BJP, which has caused a major drift in the coalition. 

The Tamil Nadu BJP has worked out a plan to ask the ADMK to allocate Chennai municipal corporation to the party and the state unit of the Central ruling party has also finalized candidates for Chennai and it is expected that the party will release the list soon. However, the sources say that ADMK is not ready to give more seats to BJP as the former is aiming to win more local bodies to heal the debacle in the assembly polls. 

Last week, after the first round of talks, the BJP has pressed that it is ready to contest independently if ADMK fails to provide what it has demanded. By acknowledging that the ADMK is functioning effectively as the opposition party, Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai has said that the BJP is in a strong posture in the local bodies across the state and the party had contested independently in 2011. It is believed that Annamalai's speech is a strong indicator that the BJP is ready to contest independently by breaking the ties with the ADMK in the urban local body polls. 

According to reports, what has sparked the debate over the split-up is that ADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami's decision to skip the talks. The parties have planned to resume the talks on Monday at the ADMK party headquarters in Chennai. However, Edappadi Palansiwami has left Chennai for his hometown Salem, ahead of the talks. Though the talks happen today, it's less likely that it will have Palaniswami's presence and his decision on BJP's demands of seat-sharing.

BJP and ADMK have been observing the alliance since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and had contested together in the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls and rural local body polls. Exiting the alliance for the urban local body polls would be a huge blow for ADMK as the party has already faced such wallop during the rural local body polls while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) exited the alliance and contested independently, only to add more disappointments. 

As ADMK's alliance is faltering, it has caused chaos within the party and among the cadres who have already begun to work for the urban local body polls. With the talks still on the table, the ADMK members who are hoping to contest from the respective local governments are facing a lurch over the failing talks and not having the final announcement from their leadership on the seat-sharing as they are preparing to file their nominations. 

The urban local body polls will be held on February 19 and the votes will be counted on February 22nd. The last date of filing nominations would be February 4 and the polls will be electing 12,820 posts and they include - 21 mayors, 138 chairmen for municipalities, 490 town panchayats. The polls will also be electing 1,064 councillors for municipal corporations, 3,468 councillors for municipalities, and 8,288 councillors for town panchayats.