The Congress will contest nine Lok Sabha seats and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will field its candidates along with smaller parties for the remaining 30 constituencies in Tamil Nadu, as the two parties sealed an alliance for this summer’s general elections a day after the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) returned to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold for the electoral battle.
The Congress will also contest the lone Lok Sabha seat in Puducherry. The DMK – a key constituent of the Opposition’s ‘mahagathbandan’ formed to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – is in talks with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) to finalise the seat-sharing pact for 30 seats.
The announcement came after DMK MP Kanimozhi and Tamil Nadu Congress president KS Alagiri met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday in Delhi and returned to state on Wednesday.
“Out of total 40 seats, nine Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one seat in Puducherry have been given to the Congress. The constituencies to be given to Congress will be decided in due course of time after holding talks with the alliance partners,” said DMK president MK Stalin.
Read more| DMK’s MK Stalin announces Tamil Nadu poll pact, Congress gets 10 seats
“The negotiations were transparent and held at our party headquarters rather than in secrecy at a private hotel,” Stalin said in an apparent dig at the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) discussions over its seat-sharing pact in Tamil Nadu that was announced a day earlier.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finalised its alliance with the AIADMK and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) for the parliamentary elections on Tuesday, with the BJP deciding to contest five seats, and the AIADMK 25. The PMK will contest seven seats in the alliance. Tamil Nadu sends the fourth highest number of representatives to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress did not win any seat in Tamil Nadu. The DMK and its allies also drew a blank. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said he was confident of the DMK-led alliance sweeping the Lok Sabha elections in the state. “The alliance will make a clean sweep bringing in change of government at the Centre.”
When asked about parties such as the IUML, VCK, Vaiko’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and the Left, Stalin said: “Those parties who have stood by us in the last two years are our allies.”
Out of the 235 members in the Tamil Nadu assembly, the AIADMK has 115 legislators followed by the DMK’s 88, Congress’s eight, the IUML’s one and one independent. The numbers are made up by the Speaker and 21 vacant seats (18 of these on account of disqualification).
Stalin said seat-sharing discussions for 21 assembly bypolls in the state have not happened so far. “Let the bypoll date for the 21 assembly seats be announced. We will cross the bridge when we come to it,” the DMK chief said.
AIADMK minister M Manikandan said the DMK-Congress combine will not be a formidable force. “The AIADMK-BJP-PMK tie-up is the winning alliance… Two Leaves and Lotus are natural allies. When the DMK-Congress combine was in the power, Tamil Nadu did not benefit,” Manikandan said.
Tamil Nadu BJP general secretary Karuppu Muruganandham, too, said the DMK-Congress alliance did not present a challenge to the party. “We have formed a grand alliance in Tamil Nadu. The people of TN have understood that the BJP is the only party that is committed to the development of the state.”
Political analyst K Elangovan said the DMK-Congress alliance stands a good chance. “The DMK-Congress alliance is a mature and stable alliance. Since the anti-incumbency feeling against the state and central government is high in Tamil Nadu, the DMK-Congress combine has a good chance to win seats. However, both the BJP and AIADMK are the ruling parties at the Centre and the state respectively, which gives them some advantage.”
First Published:
Feb 20, 2019 23:31 IST
Source: HindustanTimes