Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Work in progress for DMK-Congress seat-sharing pact after Venugopal meets Stalin

Chennai: Keeping the demand for share in power in abeyance until after elections, the Congress in Tamil Nadu has demanded 35 assembly seats and a Rajya Sabha berth from the DMK as part of the deal for the April-May assembly elections. The decision to not stress power sharing in the discussions with the DMK was taken after the ruling party’s president and Chief Minister M K Stalin declared that a coalition government won’t work in Tamil Nadu.

The discussions between the two parties, which were stalled due to persistent demand from Congress for a share in power and some of its leaders criticizing the DMK in public, have come back to track with the national party’s general secretary K C Venugopal meeting Stalin here on February 22.

Venugopal was accompanied by former Chhattisgarh deputy CM T S Singh Deo, and they met Stalin after Congress Parliamentary Party chairman Sonia Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge made it clear that the alliance with DMK should continue and cannot be broken.

While the DMK is believed to have agreed to allot a Rajya Sabha seat for the Congress, no decision has been arrived at on the number of assembly seats with a huge gap between the demand and the offer. Congress says the 25 seats that the party accepted in 2021 elections was an “one-time arrangement” as the DMK said it has to contest in about 180 seats to come to power.

“We contested 41 seats in 2016, and we can’t accept 25 seats this time as well,” a Congress leader told DH. Congress’ original demand from the DMK was 41 seats which was later reduced to 35 seats in the last few weeks.

“But the DMK’s offer stands at 2021 figure of 25 seats, and this could go up to a maximum of 28 seats, not more than that,” a source aware of the developments told DH, adding that formal talks between the two sides are expected by the end of this week.

Congress leaders said they expect the number this time to be around 30 seats. “We have put the power sharing demand on hold. We won’t insist on the demand till elections. But our demand for an increase in the number of seats should be heeded to,” a senior Congress leader said.

The Congress has also sought greater representation for the party in local bodies and corporations, temple boards, and in welfare boards which the DMK has agreed to look into at an appropriate time.

During the meeting with Venugopal, Stalin is believed to have expressed inability in accommodating the Congress’ demand for 35 seats as the DMK has further expanded its alliance by welcoming late Vijayakanth’s DMDK. He also said the DMK has been asking its existing partners to understand the situation and sacrifice seats if the situation comes to that.

AICC in-charge Girish Chodankar, who was kept out of the discussions between Stalin and Venugopal, met Kanimozhi io iron out the differences and to arrive at an acceptable number. “Efforts are on to arrive at a number before the formal negotiations begin so that there are no problems. A few more meetings are expected between the two sides,” the source added.

Though reports said the Congress sought the RS seat for its media department chairman Pawan Khera, the Tamil Nadu unit is likely to oppose the move, saying the seat should be offered only to a leader from the state, not to an outsider. “The state Congress’ representation in RS has come down a lot. We only get an opportunity to send a member to the Upper House only once in five or six years. Even if that is given to an outsider, what do we do?” another senior Congress leader asked.