BJP to firm up alliance for LS polls soon in TN: Ravishankar Prasad

Madurai, Feb 15 (IANS) Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad on Friday said soon the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will announce a strong electoral alliance in Tamil Nadu for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. Speaking to reporters in Madurai he said: "Very soon a strong coalition will be announced in Tamil Nadu. There will be an effective and powerful NDA (National Democratic Alliance)". According to him, the BJP on its own would cross 300 Lok Sabha seats and the NDA about 350 seats in the general elections. He said the Central government has provided various assistance and projects for Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the first official round of electoral alliance talks between AIADMK and BJP in Chennai ended on Thursday night amicably, said officials of the two parties. Union Minister and BJP's Tamil Nadu election in-charge Piyush Goyal and leaders of the state's ruling AIADMK on Thursday met to discuss an alliance for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Goyal, accompanied by state BJP leaders, met the AIADMK leaders at an industrialist's house here. On Thursday BJP President Amit Shah, speaking in the state's Erode, also said the party would soon form a strong electoral alliance in the state.
--IANS vj/rs