Chennai, Sep 23 (IANS) Tamil Nadu's DMDK Friday announced its list of mayoral candidates for the October elections to nine municipal corporations in the state, but refused to rule out an alliance with the ruling AIADMK as yet.


Party leader A.Vijayakant announced the candidates for Chennai, Tuticorin, Tirupur, Erode, Vellore, Tirunelvelli, Salem, Coimbatore and Madurai.

The DMDK fought the assembly elections held in April aligning with AIADMK, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and others with the sole purpose of defeating the DMK.

Winning 29 seats in the 234-member assembly, it was the second largest party in the assembly as the DMK secured only 23 seats. Vijayakant became Leader of Opposition.

The ruling AIADMK has 149 members (including the speaker) in the house.

"While it may seem the party has decided to go it alone in the local body elections, the last word on the alliance with AIADMK is not out," a DMDK leader told IANS, preferring anonymity.

However, he said that the local body elections are a good chance to take the party further, after its gains in the assembly elections.

"In 2014, the Lok Sabha elections will be held," he said.

With the DMDK's announcement, almost all the major political parties in the state seem to have decided to test their individual strength at the grassroots level in the local body elections.

The AIADMK has announced its list of candidates for the elections without speaking anything about alliance.

The DMK has announced that it would go it alone in the ensuing polls, thereby delinking the Congress and the VCK from its alliance. The Congress has also announced that it would fight on its own.

The Vaiko-led MDMK and the PMK have also announced that their parties would fight the local government polls on their own.