Tamil Nadu's Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) will contest the general election in alliance with the ruling AIADMK, and its members will run for office in seven parliamentary constituencies. The tie-up between the PMK and the AIADMK is expected to be part of a larger alliance that will include the BJP and the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), a party led by former film star Vijayakanth.

However, Union Minister Piyush Goyal is in Chennai to hold talks with the AIADMK and the DMDK. A scheduled visit to Chennai by BJP chief Amit Shah was cancelled today, but sources say he may travel to the Tamil Nadu capital in the evening. Tamil Nadu sends 39 MPs to Parliament in a general election -- a relatively large contingent compared to many other states. Led by former supremo Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK won in all but two of Tamil Nadu's Lok Sabha's constituencies in 2014, but has suffered infighting and factionalism in the years since her death.

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Earlier,  The PMK said it would join hands neither with the AIADMK nor the opposition DMK, will now also support the ruling party in bypolls due in 21 assembly constituencies. It will get one seat in the Rajya Sabha. PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said his party raised ten demands with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, including the waiving of farm loans, the resolution of water issues and a caste-based census. Ramadoss is the Lok Sabha MP from Dharmapuri. His victory in the 2014 election was one of two NDA wins in Tamil Nadu. The BJP won too, in Kanyakumari.

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