CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Saturday announced the constitution of a 7-member seat-sharing committee under party's senior leader TR Baalu to hold parleys with its allies, days after it sealed a poll pact with the DMDK.
The swift move to rope in the DMDK rendered a blow to its rival AIADMK, which has been attempting to woo the Vijayakanth-founded party to the NDA to collectively take on the DMK in the upcoming Assembly election.
A source in the DMK said the party was likely to commence seat-sharing negotiations with its allies from February 22.
In addition to accommodating the DMDK, the party is likely to allocate more seats to the Congress for this poll.
Ruling out any scope for a coalition government in Tamil Nadu, MDMK chief Vaiko, an ally of the DMK, said the Dravidian major would return to power with an absolute majority of its own. "I am fully confident that DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin will form the government again by winning the 2026 Assembly election," Vaiko said.
"The upcoming elections will not be a big test of strength. DMK will win in most of the seats. I want to reiterate that there is no chance of a coalition government," he told reporters in Tirunelveli on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a senior DMK leader said: "Our leader (Stalin) has put the allies on poll mode. As promised, our president has formed the committee and he would fast track the talks and conclude them probably by this month-end or early next month so that the parties could undertake a joint election campaign."
For its part, the DMK has undertaken a public outreach campaign to explain the achievements of the DMK government and to "expose the betrayal of the Centre and its slave, the AIADMK," he said.
Interestingly, expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, who quit the NDA following differences, called on Stalin on the Assembly premises after the session concluded on February 20 and greeted him. He later expressed that Stalin would return to power.
This view, Panneerselvam had told reporters, reflected the sentiments of the people with regard to the DMK government's good governance. His remark did not go well with the AIADMK, which criticised him describing the comment as a "betrayal."
"He was elevated in the party ranks and even made deputy chief minister by Amma (late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa). Now he is prepared to be disloyal to the AIADMK by praising the DMK leader for his own political survival," an AIADMK senior leader told PTI.
Earlier in the day, the DMK, which has been focussing on training its booth committee members, and undertaking a membership drive, said the panel had been formed to commence the talks with allies.
The party's treasurer Baalu will head the committee.
DMK's principal secretary KN Nehru, deputy general secretaries: Tiruchi Siva, A Raja, organisation secretary RS Bharathi, and DMK high-level executive committee members: EV Velu and MRK Panneerselvam, are among the members of the committee.
Barely hours after the DMK made the announcement, Vaiko also announced the constitution of a panel on behalf of his MDMK.
The four-member panel comprises MDMK's council chairman Arjuna Raj, treasurer M Senthildeepan, high-level committee member Su Jeevan and election secretary V Seshan.
"This committee will hold talks with the DMK, which is heading the Secular Progressive Alliance, for the 2026 Assembly election," party general secretary Vaiko said in a release here.
The VCK, CPI and CPI(M) are among other allies in SPA.