CHENNAI: Amid deadlock in seat-sharing talks between DMK and Congress, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram and TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai met Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin at his residence on Tuesday in an attempt to end the impasse. DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi was also present at the meeting.
Sources told TNIE that while the DMK leadership was not inclined to accept the Congress’s demand for 34 Assembly seats, it had expressed willingness to offer up to 29 seats, in addition to two Rajya Sabha seats. Meanwhile, DMK’s seat-sharing committee has invited the Congress for the second round of talks on Wednesday, a DMK spokesperson said.
A Congress leader confirmed the DMK’s offer and said the party was “working out the numbers” and awaiting approval from the high command.
“Congress will get one Rajya Sabha seat in the forthcoming biennial election, and another will be offered in 2028,” a source said. The DMK is also understood to have conveyed its preference that the Rajya Sabha seat be given to a TN Congress leader.
TNCC chief Selvaperunthagai, however, called the CM’s meet a “courtesy call”. “It was a courtesy call. The alliance is firm and the seat-sharing talks will be finalised soon,” he said, adding that no deadline had been set by the DMK.
The decision to depute Chidambaram was taken during a meeting of senior leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjuna Kharge and K C Venugopal after talks led by AICC Tamil Nadu in-charge Girish Chodankar failed to yield results. Chidambaram is learnt to have held a virtual consultation with the Delhi leadership before meeting the CM. On Sunday, members of the Congress seat-sharing committee informed the high command that the DMK was firm on allocating no more than 25 seats and one Rajya Sabha berth, with a possible increase to 28 seats after consulting the CM. Chodankar, who had allegedly submitted a wishlist of 42 to 45 seats to the DMK, was said to be unwilling to settle for fewer than 34 seats.
Subsequently, the Congress high command held consultations with TN MLAs on Sunday night where they favoured continuing the alliance with the DMK.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Pudukkottai, DMK leader and Minister for Natural Resources S Regupathy said the Congress could enter the Assembly only through the DMK-led alliance. “The Congress is well aware of this fact,” he said.
(With inputs from Pearson Lenekar SR @ Pudukkottai)