E-Paper
DMK may offer 27 assembly seats, 1 RS berth to ally Cong
DMK may offer Congress 27 assembly seats and a Rajya Sabha berth for Tamil Nadu elections, amid ongoing power-sharing tensions between the allies.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) may offer 27 assembly seats and a Rajya Sabha berth to the Congress for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections, leaders aware of the meeting held on Sunday night between chief minister MK Stalin and Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said on Monday.
The leaders added there was no discussion on the demand from a section of Congress leaders for power sharing if the DMK-led alliance returns to power in the April-May polls.
A section of the Congress party has been demanding a share in power and want their seat allocation to be doubled which has led to a strain between the long-term allies and members of both the parties have been sparring publicly.
In 2021, the Congress had contested on 25 assembly seats in the DMK led the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA). The DMK is willing to offer a couple of seats more to the Congress.
On Sunday night, Venugopal met Stalin at his residence and handed over a sealed envelope from the high command, said a Congress leader. With Venugopal, former Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo was also present. Stalin and his half-sister Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, who met Rahul Gandhi earlier this month in Delhi amid the rumblings, held the negotiations.
AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar and Tamil Nadu Congress chief K Selva Perunthagai, had accompanied Venugopal but they were not present for the discussions, a DMK leader said.
A senior DMK leader said Venugopal had come with a message from the Congress high command on the Rajya Sabha polls, which was discussed. “There was not much discussion on the seat sharing except that the Congress was looking for a respectable number of seats to contest,” the leader said.
The leader added there may be one more meeting before the seat sharing is agreed. “The meeting was primarily to ease the situation, break the stalemate given what has been happening,” a Congress leader said. “We have also asked for a Rajya Sabha seat.”
Stalin had ruled out power sharing earlier and despite that Congress MP Manickam Tagore had pressed for a coalition government while functionary Praveen Chakravarty was viewing a section of the party’s wish to align with actor-Vijay’s fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) that would make their electoral debut this election.
Kanimozhi had met Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi last week in New Delhi following reports of strain in relation between DMK and the Congress. Venugopal meeting Stalin is being seen as a message from the party high command to state party leaders that they may not have much of a role of play in the seat sharing talks.
The DMK has launched its seat-sharing negotiations this week with other alliance partners. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is the first party to have started negotiations with the DMK’s seat-sharing committee. “We have asked them to accept fewer seats this time as we have to accommodate several allies in the SPA,” a member of the DMK’s seat sharing committee said.
After the meeting, Venugopal said the discussions with the chief minister was “cordial”.
In the last assembly election, the DMK contested 173 of the state’s 234 seats, winning 133 and losing 40, mostly to the AIADMK and the BJP.
Tamil Nadu will slated to go to assembly polls in April-May this year.
