Seat-sharing negotiations have gained pace as Tamil Nadu prepares for the high-stakes assembly election in the coming months. The DMK and Congress on Wednesday sealed the pact with the latter set to contest 28 assembly seats in the forthcoming election. Besides, the grand old party has also been offered one Rajya Sabha seat.
It's, however, still unclear how many seats the DMK will contests as allocations have to be made to other allies as well.
Notably, several rounds of negotiations took place between the two allies to finalise seat sharing. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge reportedly spoke to DMK chief MK Stalin over the phone to discuss the matter.
In Tamil Nadu, which has a total of 234 assembly seats, Congress was adamant about contesting no fewer than 30 seats under any circumstances. To resolve the seat-sharing formula with the DMK, the party entrusted former Union Minister and senior leader P Chidambaram with the responsibility.
AAP to make debut in Tamil Nadu
Seat-sharing discussion was also held between DMK and AAP in Chennai for the upcoming polls.
"We came to the DMK HQ for discussions for the forthcoming assembly elections. We had a talk with the coordination committee from the DMK. We are planning to contest this election. So we have requested a few seats. In Tamil Nadu, we have to eradicate, we have to stop this BJP. So we need a strong alliance. As last time, in the parliament election, there was a very big alliance at the national level, even the AAP party was in it, and our leader, Arvind Kejriwal, also supported it... We plan to travel with the DMK alliance. Our leader will definitely talk to MK Stalin and will definitely get sizable seats, and AAP will be a very big opening in the South," Tamil Nadu Unit AAP Convenor SAN Vaseegaran said.
DMK allots one Rajya Sabha seat to ally DMDK
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday allocated one Rajya Sabha seat to its ally, the DMDK. Details of the Assembly seats to be allocated to DMDK haven’t yet been shared.
DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth is expected to reveal the candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, said DMDK leader LK Sudhish after signing the alliance agreement with the DMK.
According to a statement from the DMK, the decision to allot a Rajya Sabha seat to the DMDK came after talks between DMK President MK Stalin and DMDK treasurer LK Sudhish.
