One Seat Per District, Plus Another in Chennai is DMK's Offer to Congress
MADURAI: The Congress and the DMK are close to striking a deal, with the national party getting as many as 33 seats to contest in the upcoming Assembly elections, said highly-placed sources from both parties.
According to the deal that the DMK put on the table, the Congress would get one seat in every district, plus one more in Chennai – the State headquarters. This has been conveyed to TNCC president E V K S Elangovan, who has left for Delhi on Tuesday to convey the message and discuss the further course of action.
Former TNCC president K V Thangkabalu accompanied Elangovan during the trip to Delhi. Earlier in the day, the eight member seat-sharing committee of the Congress held detailed discussions on the next round of talks to be held with the DMK.
If sources are to be believed, the Congress would ink the deal in a day after Elangovan discusses the matter with party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mukul Wasnik had met DMK president M Karunanidhi and others in Chennai a week ago, where the former demanded 63 seats – the same as it contested in 2011. However, pointing out that the party had split vertically with the formation of Tamil Maanila Congress by senior leader G K Vasan, the DMK side began their negotiations at just 15 seats, which was subsequently increased to 25, much lower than what the Congress sought.
Senior leaders of the national party urged the DMK leadership to allot more seats, said sources, pointing out that the DMDK had not joined the alliance as was once expected.