AAP to contest all 39 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Tamil Nadu

The Aam Aadmi Party is planning to contest all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, enthused by the response to its enrollment drive. The party claims more than one lakh people have signed up so far and AAP has set a target of touching the five lakh mark by next month. These numbers may still be a poor match to the DMK's one crore members and the ruling AIADMK 1.5 crore cadre, but the party is unfazed. Prashant Bhushan, National Executive Committee member of AAP, says "Already five hundred people have joined as volunteers, they would bring in more people. In the next two months we would enroll a total of five lakh people; we would be able to reach out to all households".

On the sensitive fishermen and Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Mr Bhushan explains, "Our party feels there has been enormous injustice meted out to Tamil people in Lanka in the form of genocide. India should have taken it up in the UN; it should have insisted for a UN war tribunal to be formed and should have insisted for a UN peace keeping force there. It appears there have been atrocities on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan navy".  The AAP also ruled out any pre-poll alliance.

The Dravidian arch rivals - the DMK and the AIADMK - claim they are not worried about AAP's debut in the state. One AIADMK leader said, "In Tamil Nadu we only have Amma Aadmi Party and no place for Aam Aadmi Party".  A DMK leader said "Look at what happened to the Lok Satta Party in Tamil Nadu which made a similar debut earlier".

Going by AAP's stellar performance in Delhi elections, it seems they are certainly bound to turn Tamil Nadu elections all the more interesting.