PTI

Chennai, Mar 4: Irked with the offer of just 22 seats by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is heading the Democratic Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday decided to walk out of the grouping and cross over to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam camp.
MDMK General Secretary Vaiko is likely meet the AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at her residence at 11.45 am to finalise and ink an agreement, party sources said.

Right from day one of the seat-sharing talks among the constituents of DPA, the MDMK had been adopting a dilly-dallying attitute. Only yesterday, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had served an ultimatum to the MDMK to take the offer of 22 seats or leave the alliance.

The MDMK had been demanding parity with the PMK on the plea that its strength was much more than that of the PMK and was the 'number three' party in the state. The MDMK cadres had been opposing the tie-up with the DMK and were seeking an alliance with the AIADMK which had offered the party more seats.

Vaiko's decision is a boon for the ruling AIADMK, which had been more or less isolated in the state's political scenario.

The MDMK, one of the constituents of the DMK-led DPA, was demanding at least 25 seats for the May 8 assembly polls, but the DMK leadership had categorically stated on Friday that it was able to offer a maximum of 22.