A day after the AIADMK inked a pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the opposition DMK stitched a similar alliance with the Congress in Tamil Nadu. The two parties also reached a consensus on the number of seats to contest in the general elections due in April-May.
The Congress party would contest nine Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone parliament seat in Puducherry, said DMK president M.K. Stalin at party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai.
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The constituencies to be given to Congress will be decided in due course of time after holding talks with alliance partners, said Stalin. Congress general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu Mukul Wasnik, TNCC chief K.S. Alagiri and other senior leaders were also present.
There are 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry. In 2014 polls, neither the DMK which had led a four-party alliance, nor the Congress, which contested the polls alone, managed to win a single seat.
On Tuesday, the ruling party cobbled an alliance with the BJP and the PMK for the Lok Sabha elections, describing it as a "mega and victorious" combine amid indications that some more parties are set to be roped in.
