One by one, parties desert Jaya's AIADMK

Left parties in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday made it clear that they were no more allies of the AIADMK and their joining hands for Lok Sabha elections was just a poll-time arrangement.

"It was just a seat-sharing arrangement, not an alliance formed on policies. It ended the moment Lok Sabha elections were over," CPI(M) state secretary N Varadarajan said.

CPI(M) and CPI were part of the AIADMK-led front during the Lok Sabha polls as part of their plans to bring a non-BJP, non-Congress alternative front to power.

Varadarajan, however, said his party was ready to share space with AIADMK for common issues, including "anti-people policies" of the government.

"Our next seat-sharing arrangement would be firmed up only during elections," he said in an apparent reference to Assembly elections scheduled in 2011. CPI sources also maintained that the arrangement with AIADMK was only for the polls.

"Generally, Left parties only forge seat-sharing arrangements and don't enter into an alliance," CPI state deputy secretary C Mahendran said.

Left parties had fielded candidates for five segments in the August 18 Assembly bypolls, deviating from AIADMK's decision to boycott it, saying they would not be free and fair. AIADMK recently suffered a jolt when its ally PMK walked out early this month, alleging that the party was trying to falsely implicate some of its leaders in a murder case.

Jayalalithaa is now left only with Vaiko-led MDMK, which joined her for the 2006 Assembly elections. The Left and PMK were then part of DMK-led DPA.