A day after the AIADMK and the BJP finalised their alliance and decided on the seat sharing deal, the DMK and Congress in Tamil Nadu are in discussions to seal the seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement in this regard will be made in Chennai sometime later today.
Today’s discussion, being held in New Delhi, on the seat sharing deal between the Congress and DMK will hopefully be the last one in a series of negotiations to seal the deal.
While the DMK is hoping to contest on 25-28 seats, the Congress has expressed its desire to contest on 16 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats – 39 of Tamil Nadu and one of Puducherry.
Also read: AIADMK, DMK run into seat-sharing hurdle with allies in Tamil Nadu
DMK’s Rajya Sabha MP and women’s wing secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, and DMK principal principal secretary TR Baalu are representing the DMK while KS Alagiri, along with former ministers EVKS Elangovan and KV Thangabalu are negotiating for the Congress, sources said.
Both DMK and the Congress failed to win any Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu in the 2014 general elections.
On Tuesday, Alagiri said, “We have already announced about our alliance. We (Congress and DMK) will make a final announcement in Chennai tomorrow (Wednesday).”
The DMK is also in talks with the CPI and CPI(M), Vaiko’s MDMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK- a Dalit party) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) to include them in the alliance.
“DMK would contest from 25 to 28 seats. It may ask VCK and MDMK to contest with its Rising Sun symbol. Both the Left parties and IUML would contest on their own symbols,” said a DMK functionary.
First Published:
Feb 20, 2019 17:32 IST
Source: HindustanTimes