CHENNAI: After losing an opportunity to be part of the Narendra Modi government, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is under pressure from BJP to give up one of its four Rajya Sabha seats that would fall vacant on July 24. Losing 13 of the 22 assembly seats in the byelections means AIADMK will have to concede a Rajya Sabha seat to the DMK.

It also has to fulfil its pre-poll agreement to part with another seat for PMK. Giving one seat to BJP would leave AIADMK with just one more Rajya Sabha berth, and its representation in Parliament will fall to 11, including the lone Lok Sabha member P Raveendranath Kumar.

BJP was initially keen on external affairs minister S Jaishankar being nominated from Tamil Nadu, which is his home state. It later decided to nominate him from Gujarat after former RS members Amit Shah and Smriti Irani won from Gandhinagar and Amethi . BJP is now seeking a seat from AIADMK to accommodate its nominee who may be a local BJP person.

AIADMK leaders are opposed to such a move, pointing out that the DMK-led opposition in Tamil Nadu was bound to use it to discredit their party. “It will look like we are submitting to BJP’s demands again. We can’t afford to do that, especially with the local body polls around the corner,” said a senior AIADMK leader.

Another leader added that the issue of seeking a ministerial berth has also been kept in abeyance, for six months at least, until elections to the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency and the Nanguneri assembly seat were completed.The six RS seats from Tamil Nadu will fall vacant on July 24.

On April 2 next year, six more seats will fall vacant, including four AIADMK seats, and the party will lose another seat to DMK.



In Video: BJP eyes Gujarat Rajya Sabha seat to get Jaishankar into House