CHENNAI: The ruling DMK on Monday invited CPI and CPM for the next round of seat-sharing negotiations at Anna Arivalayam, DMK sources said. The third round of DMK-CPI talks will take place on Tuesday. The CPI had their first and second round of talks with the DMK on February 27 and March 4, respectively.
The CPM too had its first round of talks on February 27. The second round of talks may take place on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending upon the time the DMK takes for the negotiation with the other political parties.
Sources said the DMK, which had initially offered four seats each to the Left parties, has now increased the offer to five seats each. “However, eventually, the Left parties may be given the same number of six seats they contested last time, depending upon the negotiation of the Left leaders,” the DMK source said.
The Left parties were offered four seats (two less than what they contested in the 2021 Assembly elections) in the first round of talks.
“Although our party’s demand is to contest in more seats, we should also consider other factors, including the addition of new parties to the alliance. Our greater aim is to stop the communal forces from gaining ground in Tamil Nadu, hence, we have decided not to lay stress on more number of seats, but to at least retain the six seats we contested in the 2021 elections,” a CPI functionary, who was part of the negotiation committee, told TNIE.
While the Left parties had initially insisted on a two-digit number of seats to contest in the upcoming Assembly elections before settling for an increase over the seats they had previously contested, the ruling DMK had asked them to consider reducing the number further from the seats they contested in the previous elections.