Buzz from Tamil Nadu on exit poll predictions: Will sweep, says AIADMK; wait for results says DMK
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Palaniswami said these numbers were being forced upon the people.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami has said that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will sweep the polls in the state. His reaction came a day after exit polls predicted poor performance for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, saying the BJP-led alliance's tally will be in single digit.
"Ahead of the 2016 assembly poll results, the media had said that the we will lose and and get only three seats that fall under the Salem segment. But we ended up winning 10 seats. This is the nature of exit polls," Palanisami told reporters at Salem airport. Palanisami's AIADMK party is a part of the NDA.
Palaniswami said these numbers were being forced upon the people. He also expressed confidence about the AIADMK and its allies sweeping the state's 38 parliamentary constituencies and the lone seat in Puducherry, while also winning all the 22 bypolls to the vacant assembly seats.
When asked about the projection of the exit polls at the national level, he said, "I know only about the situation in Tamil Nadu and I'm saying this as the leader of a regional party."
AIADMK's political opponent DMK, meanwhile, said it does not take into consideration the exit poll projections, irrespective of whether they were in favour or against the DMK. "In three days, the people's verdict will be out and that's what we are eagerly waiting for," DMK chief MK Stalin said.
Watch: Exit polls predicts DMK's comeback in Tamil Nadu
He said that Andhra Chief Minister and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu had spoken to him many times and had also expressed support to the DMK.
Rubbishing questions on the Opposition parties meeting in New Delhi on May 23, Stalin said, "Who told you that the meeting is on 23rd? You yourselves are putting out that news. Only after the results on 23rd evening can we take a call on those meetings and that's when it would be useful."
The DMK, along with its allies the Congress and the Left parties, hopes to make big gains in Tamil Nadu as the AIADMK faces anti-incumbency after wins in the 2011 Assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha polls.