Tamil Nadu Congress leaders greet M K Stalin.
Credit: X/INCTamilNadu
Chennai: Congress on Wednesday launched seat-sharing negotiations with the DMK for the 2026 Assembly polls with a five-member committee meeting Chief Minister M K Stalin.
The committee consisting of Girish Raya Chodankar, AICC in-charge for TN and Puducherry, and state unit chief K Selvaperunthagai, Congress floor leader in Assembly Rajesh Kumar, Nivedith Alva, and Suraj Hegde met Stalin and senior leaders of the DMK and conveyed the Congress High Command’s demand on the number of seats.
“Girish’s meeting with the Chief Minister has put an end to all speculation in the meeting. The Congress and DMK are firm about their alliance. We have won five elections together in the past and we have always been a winning alliance,” Selvaperunthagai told reporters after the meeting.
During the meeting, sources said Chodankar brought a letter from the High Command in a “sealed cover” and handed it over to Stalin. The five-member panel will now negotiate with the committee to be appointed by the DMK for seat-sharing talks with alliance partners.
Congress, according to sources, will demand about 40 seats, in an increase from the 25 seats that the party was allotted in the 2021 assembly elections during negotiations besides asking for winnable constituencies.
“We will discuss numbers later,” Selvaperunthagai said. Sources told DH that the meeting was “cordial” and the two parties decided to continue the negotiations.
Congress constituted the five-member committee on November 22 after the DMK leadership sought clarity from the High Command on the alliance between the two parties on the heels of intense speculation that Congress cadres want an alliance with Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) of actor Vijay.
The party is also split between two opinions – the one being that the Congress should accept the number of seats offered by the DMK and try to win the maximum while the second being that the party should seek at least 40 seats.
Not just the Congress, almost all allies, including the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and Left parties, are gearing up to seek an increased share from the DMK in the 2026 polls.
The party leaders told DH that they accepted “less number of seats” in 2021 since the DMK told them that the party has to contest at least 170 seats to ensure that it forms a stable government.