Despite a rift in the alliance, the Congress on Sunday formally began its seat-sharing talks with the DMK.
Hours after the DMK’s seat-sharing committee held talks with leaders of its allies at the party headquarters in Anna Salai, Congress general secretary K.C.Venugopal called on Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at his Chitranjan Avenue residence, late in the evening.
The closed-door meeting—which went on for over 30 minutes—saw Congress represented by Venugopal and former Chhattisgarh Deputy CM T.S. Singh Deo, while Stalin and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi led the negotiations from the DMK’s side.
Though Tamil Nadu’s AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar and TNCC chief K. Selvaperunthagai were also expected to be part of the talks, the late-evening meeting turned out to be a high-level closed-door consultation, with the two believed to have been kept out of the discussions.
According to highly placed sources in the Congress and the DMK, the national party has set aside its demand for power sharing and is expected to agree to a few more than 25 seats—the number it contested in the 2021 elections.
Sources say Congress’s demand for an increase in the number of seats may be accepted by the DMK, as the alliance arithmetic is more important in the run-up to the election.
While the Congress is demanding over 30 Assembly seats, the DMK is ready to give about 27-28 seats. The Congress has also demanded a Rajya Sabha seat, which might be considered by the DMK.
The meeting assumes significance after Congress leaders have been sparring with the DMK over power sharing and an increase in the number of seats to be allotted for the national party. The DMK has reportedly sent a strong message through Selvaperunthagai to the Congress high command that its demand for “power sharing” could never be accepted.
The rumblings in the alliance hit a high when Stalin ruled out Congress’s demand for “power sharing”, saying “it will not suit a state like Tamil Nadu".
Still, the alliance talks and the issues in seat-sharing are all set to be resolved smoothly within a week, the DMK sources say.
