Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader Vijayakanth announced on Thursday that his party will contest the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly polls on 16 May alone.

“I repeat again and again that we will contest alone,” said Vijayakanth at a conference of DMDK’s women’s wing in Chennai.

With the announcement of poll date, talks for alliances have assumed urgency in the state, with political parties across the spectrum trying to rope in the actor-turned-politician.

On Tuesday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi said Vijayakanth would join hands with the DMK. “I’m very confident that DMDK will join the DMK alliance,” Karunanidhi said.

The Congress had last month tied up with the DMK and left the task of roping DMDK into the alliance to Karunanidhi.

On 28 February, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prakash Javadekar had an inconclusive meeting with Vijayakanth.

The People’s Welfare Front (PWF)—a front floated by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Part of India, Vaiko-led Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and T. Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi—has also been eyeing Vijayakanth’s party for a tie-up.

DMDK was formally launched in 2005 in Madurai and contested all 234 seats in the assembly elections in May 2006. Vijayakanth was the sole winner from his party.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, it won no seats. The party allied with All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the 2011 assembly elections and won 29 seats. The DMDK fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections along with National Democratic Alliance and won no seats.