The AIADMK leadership seems to be coming round to the view that it needs “viable alliances” to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. When Jayalalithaa was in charge of the party, the situation was different, pointed out a top party leader, alluding to the way the ruling party had handled the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and the Assembly polls in 2016.

In 2014, the party contested all 39 constituencies in the State and bagged 37 seats.

Two years later, even though seven seats were allotted to the allies of the AIADMK, all their nominees faced the polls on the AIADMK ticket.

But the same strategy cannot be adopted under the present circumstances, felt the leader, as opposed to the repeated assertions of party propaganda secretary and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai that the AIADMK was gearing up to face the forthcoming elections on its own.